Taiwan presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen talks to the media after casting her ballot at a polling station during general elections in Taipei on Jan. 16.

It wasn’t that long ago that Taiwan politics gave the term “rough and tumble” a bad name. Sessions of the Legislative Yuan—the island’s main legislative body—could easily be confused with a tag-team wrestling match. Kicking, punching and water fights sometimes shut down the serious business of legislation, prompting disbelief in more “mature” Western democracies like the U.S.

In Taiwan’s current presidential and legislative election campaign, which concludes Saturday, at least the presidential candidates have been loath to wade too far into the gutter. The contrast with the U.S. presidential campaign has been striking.

Certainly, the political differences among thethree presidential candidates have been sharp. Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, Eric Chu of the ruling Nationalist Party and James Soong of the People First Party have heaped scathing criticism on the policies of their rivals. But they have generally managed to avoid the personal attacks that have become frequent in the U.S., due in part, some commentators say, to the tactics of businessman and entertainment figure Donald Trump.

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There have been unsubstantiated charges of the ugly practice of vote buying—long a feature of Taiwan elections. And surrogates for the candidates have been more strident in their criticisms. But so far there have been no claims of opponents being just plain ugly.

While front-runner Ms. Tsai would be the first woman president in Taiwan and in any Chinese-speaking nation, public discussion has also largely avoided assessing the fitness of a woman for the top job or the fact that Ms. Tsai is a single woman who will be 60 years old this year.

“It’s more civilized here,” said Yen Chen-shen, research fellow at National Chengchi University, referring to the tone of the campaign. “The fact that she is a single woman is not an issue. If it were Donald Trump (as her opponent) he might criticize her.”

Taiwan’s uneasy relationship with China has featured in the continuing political debate. China’s communist government regards the island as a breakaway province and has vowed to reunify the sides, by force if necessary. Still, the candidates have avoided hectoring and name-calling directed at Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Instead, all three have sought to show they can maintain communication channels with the mainland and preserve important economic links.

“We don’t want to make enemies,” said Mr. Yen.

Even the news media gets a relatively easy ride in the Taiwan electoral campaign. Candidates haven’t turned on the media as a whipping boy when challenged on their campaign statements. While the island’s newspapers struggle with the same business pressures as in the West, candidates haven’t labeled their media critics as scribes of a “failing” publication, as Mr. Trump did with one reporter from a major U.S. newspaper.

But for those voters who enjoy caustic rhetoric from their candidates before they cast their vote, Taiwan’s  presidential election doesn’t really fit the bill. They might be better off keeping their eye on Mr. Trump.

—William Kazer

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