But some analysts have suggested that Mr. Chen may feel less need to adopt pro-independence positions himself as long as Ms. Lu's presence reassures hard-liners in his party.
More generally, it gives people a psychological and economic independence of position and thought.
Even though most Commonwealth countries chose to become republics after independence, the position of the queen as head of the Commonwealth was rarely questioned and never challenged.
Mr. Chen, the Democratic Progressive Party candidate who was elected president in 2000, favored steps toward formal independence, a position that has caused growing anxiety among the Taiwanese public, Chinese leaders and American officials in recent years.
Championing progressive causes was a way to assert his independence — a position he exploited in jockeying for power — and to move in a glamorous international set that suited his bombastic, aspirational self-image.
A few people favor complete independence, a position the majority regards as impractical because "we don't have the mechanisms or the resources to survive on our own," as Ms. Tuki put it.
Mr. Ma, of the Kuomintang, is facing a vigorous challenge from Tsai Ing-wen, a low-key academic whose Democratic Progressive Party has long advocated formal independence, a position that in the past inspired Beijing to lob missiles into the Taiwan Strait.
Mr. Niyaz, 51, holds what are considered moderate political views -- he has not, for example, advocated for Xinjiang independence, a position held by some Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people that is the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang.
Miliband also confirmed that a future Labour government would block Salmond's bid to create a sterling currency union after independence, a position shared by all three of the main Westminster parties which came under severe strain when a UK minister said such a stance was a short-term campaigning position which would be abandoned after a yes vote.
