Sawt Falasteen - Cross-strait couple's love transcends China, Taiwan tensions

But Willy is Taiwanese and Louis is from mainland China, a cross-strait love story that places them on opposite sides of one of the 21st century's tensest flashpoints.

Taiwan goes to the polls this week in an election closely watched from Washington to Beijing -- which has intensified its threats toward the self-ruled island -- as its outcome could reshape future relations with an increasingly assertive China.

Speaking from their home in southern China's economic hub of Shenzhen, Louis, 37, told AFP his hope for the poll is simple: "Peace".

"As ordinary people, we just want to live a good life," he said.

"We just hope our lives can be convenient, we hope that the cross-strait relations can be improved no matter who is elected."

Willy, 40, and Louis met around nine years ago in Vancouver. Willy later proposed in Shanghai and they were married in Canada in 2022, before moving to Shenzhen last year.

- Different paths -

The gay couple had to overcome initial family disapproval of their sexuality.

"It took about two or three years for my parents to accept the truth," Willy said.

"After that, the stone in my heart suddenly disappeared."

Louis, on the other hand, could never even dream of coming out while in mainland China.

But when his parents visited them in Canada, they began to be more understanding.

"I explained to (my parents) that all these stigmatisations of homosexuality are wrong," he said.

"Finally they let go of their worries."

Taiwan and China have taken very different paths on LGBTQ rights.

Chinese authorities decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, although same-sex marriage is not legal and social stigma is widespread.

Despite a period of relaxation in the 2000s and 2010s, rights groups say recent years have seen a crackdown on the community's spaces.

Taiwan, in contrast, is at the vanguard of Asia's burgeoning LGBTQ rights movement, becoming the first place in the region to legalise marriage equality in 2019.

Initially, same-sex couples could not marry if their home country did not permit it.

That law was later adjusted to rescind the restriction, but those from mainland China remain barred.

But Willy and Louis have made life in Shenzhen work for them.

"We both feel that at least for now our identity does not cause us too many troubles or hinder us. In China, we have come out to some good and reliable friends, and they have become good friends with both of us," Louis said.

- 'Our wish is peace' -

Mainlander Louis says Taiwan reminds him of a song title: "The most familiar stranger".

"When I come here, the words I saw, the language I heard, and the food I ate are very similar to those in mainland China, and I feel very familiar."

Issues of identity are front and centre as voters go to the poll this week, with those on the island increasingly seeing themselves as Taiwanese and not Chinese, according to opinion polling.

The authoritarian mainland has been keen to turn the screws running up to the election, sending mysterious balloons across the narrow Taiwan Strait in moves Taipei described as "grey zone" harassment.

But while the two might seem worlds apart, Louis believed the hustle and bustle of Taipei was not "much different" from the big cities he was used to seeing on the mainland.

"I think the pace of life in Taipei is also quite fast, and the pressure of life is also quite high."

And in the run-up to the election, Willy and Louis say their hopes for this week's vote are simple: more tolerance and understanding.

"Our greatest wish is peace," Louis said.

"Mainland China should listen to what ordinary Taiwanese people are thinking," Willy added.

"And Taiwan should have a better understanding of what the mainland is really like."

Both also want more opportunities for cross-strait travel -- largely on hold as relations between Beijing and Taipei have fallen to some of their lowest levels in decades.

"Taiwanese should come to see mainland China more with their own eyes," Willy said.

While Beijing flexes its military might and Taipei steps up arms purchases from the US, Willy and Louis's relationship is much more harmonious.

"We never had a big fight for almost nine years!"

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST