Taiwanese voters rejected an attempt to unseat nearly half of the opposition Kuomintang’s lawmakers in mass recall elections on Saturday. The result threatens to deepen political paralysis in a country striving to strengthen its defences against China.

Taiwan's government said the island's largest-ever recall vote has faced "unprecedented" election interference by China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own, over Taiwan's rejection.

Taiwan opposition lawmakers survived a major recall election on Saturday, thwarting a bid to oust one-fifth of the island's parliamentarians - a move supporters had hoped would send a message to China but that opponents said was an assault on democracy.