Trade ties with China likely first key obstacle for new Taiwan leader

Taipei

TAIWAN's new ruling party is set for an early clash with China over the first major item on its legislative agenda: a bill that could paralyse trade between the two rivals and which Beijing has already condemned.

The proposed "supervision law" has not only angered China, which views self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province, but sent shivers through the island's business community which thinks the government should put the economy before politics.

Incoming president Tsai Ing-wen has made the bill, spurred by anti-China student protests in 2014, a priority for her g…