President Ma Ying-jeou was elected to a second four-year term as Taiwan’s president, giving him a renewed mandate to press for closer ties with China that have eased decades-old tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Ma, the 61-year-old leader of the ruling Kuomintang Party, defeated challenger Tsai Ing-wen, the Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman, by 51.6 percent to 45.6 percent, with all the votes tallied, the Central Election Commission reported on its website. The commission said 74.4 percent of Taiwan’s 18 million eligible voters cast ballots. Read More »

Taiwan’s presidential candidates have wound up a packed last day of campaigning in an attempt to lure voters who will decide the outcome of a tight race watched intensely in Beijing and Washington. The choice in Saturday’s vote is essentially between the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou, who has overseen four years of improved ties with China, and his main challenger Tsai Ing-wen, a skeptic on closer mainland relations. Amid swirling campaign banners and cheering crowds, Ma and Tsai, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), crisscrossed the island ahead of a contest that pits Ma’s experience against Tsai’s populism. Read More »

Taiwanese voted on Saturday for their next president and parliament, an election being closely monitored by China and the United States as they look for stability in the region at a time of political transition for both superpowers. Opinion polls suggest the presidential race will be tight. But a slight advantage is seen for incumbent Nationalist Ma Ying-jeou, 61, who has fostered warmer ties with China, over Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Read More »

The only thing more striking than the $32,000 diamond-encrusted eyeglasses on display at the Baodao Optical department store here is the bronze statue of Chairman Mao that greets shoppers entering what is billed as the world’s largest eyeglass emporium. That is because Baodao Optical’s owners are from Taiwan, the island whose governing party, the Kuomintang, fought a fierce — and losing — civil war against Mao’s Communist forces before fleeing the mainland in 1949 with more than a million refugees. The rival governments have yet to sign a peace accord. Read More »

Taiwan votes on Saturday in a tight presidential contest that is being closely watched in the United States and China because it could deliver an outcome that adds to the strains in U.S.-China ties in an already
challenging year. Read More »

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s policy of economic opening to China has frustrated a key constituency: struggling middle- and low-income workers, who could cost him elections this week. That outcome would alarm Beijing and heighten uncertainty in an area that has long been a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations. Following massive rallies Sunday by both the ruling Kuomintang and the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in the capital, Taipei, Mr. Ma and DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen were back campaigning Monday.

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Holding balloons and waving flags, tens of thousands of Taiwanese paraded throughout the island Sunday to support their favored presidential candidates less than a week before what is expected to be an extremely tight election. President Ma Ying-jeou, who has improved relations with rival China during his 3 1/2 years in office, led a large crowd of supporters in a three-mile (five-kilometer) march down a main Taipei thoroughfare.

“If you want peace with the mainland and friendly international communities, join me and let’s walk together,” the 61-year-old Ma told supporters. Ma’s Nationalist Party said at least 200,000 people joined the Taipei parade. Police did not give an estimate. Pro-Ma parades were held simultaneously in three other cities. Polls indicate that Ma is locked in a virtual dead heat with his main challenger, Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive party, ahead of Saturday’s election. Read More »