By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) -Voters in Taiwan were casting ballots on Saturday on whether to recall one-fifth of the island's parliament, all from the major opposition party, in a move supporters hope will send a message to China and opponents say is an assault on democracy.

Taiwan says China has no right to intervene in the recall vote on lawmakers whom activists see as cozying up to Beijing. China views Taiwan as its own territory.Taiwan will hold the largest recall vote in its history this weekend.

The unprecedented recall vote is being led by civic groups who accuse the opposition Kuomintang of working against Taiwan’s interests by reducing key budgets, especially for defence, and pushing legislation to weaken the government.