Taiwan’s main opposition parties have filed individual bids to unseat the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn dropped out of the presidential race hours before the nomination deadline last Friday.

A potential alliance aimed at increasing the prospect of a pro-China government failed to materialize. The plan was announced last Wednesday, but imploded live on local television Thursday. Candidates from the more established Kuomintang and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party could not agree on the leader for a combined ticket.

Last week’s drama would appear to strengthen the hand of the ruling DPP government, which has been leading in independent opinion polls for the election. Taiwan’s president and vice president are directly elected, serve one term of four years and may be re-elected for one additional term.

China’s Taiwan affairs office has characterized the self-ruled island’s election as a choice between “peace and war, prosperity and decline.” This election comes as China has escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and other nearby waters as Beijing presses its sovereignty claims over an island it sees as its own.

Taiwan’s elections kick off a year that is littered with numerous elections globally at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions as two major wars rage on. U.S. President Joe Biden‘s reelection bid bookends 2024.

The outcome of Taiwan’s elections will likely go some way in influencing testy U.S.-China ties and impact security in Asia-Pacific more broadly.

China President Xi Jinping told Biden that Taiwan has always been the “most important and sensitive” issue in China’s relations with the U.S., according to an English-language readout from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the two leaders’ first bilateral meeting in a year on the sidelines of the recent APEC leaders summit in San Francisco.

Biden has pledged to defend Taiwan in the event of a China invasion, irking Beijing. Last year, former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island in over two decades. Her trip was one reason that communication between the world’s two leading powers ground to a halt before a tentative resumption only just months ago.

These are the three parties contesting Taiwan’s Jan. 13 polls to elect a new president.

Tapping on China’s framing of this elections, Hou reiterated on Saturday his party’s warning to the Taiwanese people that voting for DPP would likely lead to war with the mainland.

Just hours before nominations closed, Terry Gou — better known as the billionaire founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry — withdrew his presidential bid after failing to broker an agreement among the opposition parties.

Gou has consistently lagged his rivals in opinion polls despite a publicity blitz across Taiwan after launching an independent bid for the Taiwanese presidency in August.

He has kept a low profile after the state-owned Global Times reported Oct. 22 that China was investigating Foxconn’s activities in several provinces. There were some indications in other reports that Chinese authorities may have been concerned his candidacy could split the opposition vote.

“As I step down from this presidential race, my determination to bring change to Taiwan remains strong. Taiwan needs to Stop, Reset, Restart,” Gou said Friday in a statement, where he did not clearly state his reason for withdrawal. “We need a change in the ruling political party to bring change to Taiwan.”

While he remained coy on his future plans, Gou was explicit in his criticism of Tsai and the DPP’s leadership when he launched his presidential bid, accusing them of pushing Taiwan’s economy from prosperity to “the edge of a cliff” as a result of their perceived incompetence.