A populist China-friendly Taiwanese mayor has won the hotly contested opposition party nomination to challenge Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 election.

The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party said on Monday that Han Kuo-yu, mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung, had won the presidential primary with an approval rating of 44.8 per cent, higher than that of rival Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of technology company Foxconn, which manufactures the iPhone.

The results were announced after a week-long nationwide telephone poll which included both KMT members and non-members. The party’s central leadership is expected to officially confirm the nomination later this week, and Mr Gou has not ruled out an independent run.

In a straight race between Mr Han and Ms Tsai with no outside contenders, voters would in broad terms face a choice over whether Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy of 23 million, should align itself more closely with China or the United States.