http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35333647
Tsai Ing-wen elected Taiwan's first female president
Tsai Ing-wen has been elected Taiwan's first female president.
Ms Tsai, 59, leads the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that wants independence from China.
In her victory speech, she vowed to preserve the status quo in relations with China, adding Beijing must respect Taiwan's democracy and both sides must ensure there are no provocations.
China sees the island as a breakaway province - which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
In her speech, Ms Tsai hailed a "new era" in Taiwan and pledged to co-operate with other political parties on major issues.
The will of the Taiwanese people would be the basis for relations with China, Ms Tsai said.
"I also want to emphasise that both sides of the Taiwanese Strait have a responsibility to find mutually acceptable means of interaction that are based on dignity and reciprocity.
"We must ensure that no provocations or accidents take place," Ms Tsai said, warning that "any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations".
She thanked the US and Japan for their support and vowed Taiwan would contribute to peace and stability in the region.
Ms Tsai had a commanding lead in the vote count when Eric Chu of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) admitted defeat.
Mr Chu congratulated Tsai Ing-wen and announced he was quitting as KMT head. Taiwan's Premier Mao Chi-kuo also resigned.
The election came just months after a historic meeting between the leaders of Taiwan and China.
However, the flagging economy as well as Taiwan's relationship with China both played a role in the voters' choice, correspondents say.
The KMT has been in power for most of the past 70 years and has overseen improved relations with Beijing - Ms Tsai's is only the second-ever victory for the DPP.
The first was by pro-independence advocate Chen Shui-bian; during his time as president between 2000 and 2008 tensions with China escalated.
Analysis: Cindy Sui, BBC News, Taipei
The election result marks a turning point in Taiwan's democracy and relationship with China.
The DPP win means the island is moving towards a political system in which voters prefer to transfer power from one party to another, ending decades of mostly KMT rule.
That could make relations with China uncertain, because unlike the KMT, the DPP favours Taiwan's independence and does not recognise the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) and the People's Republic of China as part of "one China".
The KMT was the Communists' bitter enemy during the civil war. It fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war and its charter and leaders still favour eventual unification. It remains China's best hope - and perhaps only hope - of peacefully reunifying with Taiwan
Beijing has been closely watching the elections to gauge Taiwanese people's sentiments and what those sentiments will mean for its goal of reunifying with the last inhabited territory - following Hong Kong and Macau - that it feels was unfairly snatched from it by Japan as a colony in 1895, and then ruled separately by the KMT after the civil war.
Ms Tsai, a former scholar, has said she wants to "maintain [the] status quo" with China.
She became chairwoman of the DPP in 2008, after it saw a string of corruption scandals.
She lost a presidential bid in 2012 but has subsequently led the party to regional election victories. She has won increased support from the public partly because of widespread dissatisfaction over the KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou's handling of the economy and widening wealth gap.
Saturday's polls come after a historic meeting between President Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in November for talks that were seen as largely symbolic - the first in more than 60 years.
Eric Chu, 54, is the mayor of New Taipei City and stepped up to become chairman of the party in October.
The KMT is at risk of losing its majority in the legislature for the first time in history.
The former accounting professor was seen as popular with young people in the party, but had been unable to change public opinion that is increasingly unhappy with the party's friendly stance towards China and the island's economic travails.
In 2014, hundreds of students occupied the parliament in the largest show of anti-Chinese sentiment on the island for years. Labelled the Sunflower Movement, protesters demanded more transparency in trade pacts negotiated with China.
Taiwan for all practical purposes been independent since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Nationalist government fled to the island as the Communists, under Mao Zedong, swept to power.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/16/asia/taiwan-election/index.html
Taiwan Nationalist concedes defeat, congratulates Tsai Ing-wen as President
By Katie Hunt and Kristie Lu Stout, CNN
Updated 1438 GMT (2238 HKT) January 16, 2016
TaipGeneral Newsei (CNN) Taiwan appears to have its first female President, in a landmark election that could unsettle relations with Beijing.
Eric Chu, the Nationalist Party candidate in Taiwan's presidential election conceded defeat late Saturday and congratulated rival Tsai Ing-wen to her victory as the new President, state-run Central News Agency reported.
Her supporters filled streets, waving party banners and cheering to victory announcements made from a stage.
Official election results have not yet been announced.
Voters lined up Saturday at polling stations, and when they closed, surveys suggested that Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), would win the presidential vote by a significant margin after eight years under the government of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party.
The ruling party was also in danger of losing control of the legislature for the first time in parliamentary elections, with a record 556 candidates in the race for 113 seats.
The DPP has traditionally leaned in favor of independence for the island from mainland China, which could anger Beijing, which views Taiwan as an integral part of its territory that is to be taken by force if necessary. Beijing has missiles pointed at the island.
"I voted for DPP, because it's very critical time for the Taiwan people. We have our own democracy systems, we will not be influenced by China," said Tsai Cheng-an, a 55-year-old Taipei professor.
The KMT forged closer ties with China under President Ma Ying-jeou, which recently drew street protests. The new president will take over from Ma, who will step down on May 20 after serving two four-year terms.
China and Taiwan -- officially the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China -- separated in 1949 following the Communist victory on the mainland in the civil war.
The two sides have been governed separately since, though a shared cultural and linguistic heritage mostly endures -- with Mandarin spoken as the official language in both places.
"I voted for KMT because they are less likely to provoke cross-strait troubles. They want peace. That's why I chose them. We've lived through war, and it was not easy," said Chen, 83, a military veteran who declined to give his full name.
Taiwan's freewheeling democracy stands in sharp contrast to China's one-party state, and a cast of colorful candidates are contesting seats -- they include an ex-convict, an alleged spy and the front man of Asia's biggest death metal band.
Balancing act
Tsai, a soft-spoken U.S.-educated lawyer, is viewed as a pragmatic leader but will have her work cut out balancing the interests of China, which is the island's biggest trading partner, the United States, its key ally, and the diverse demands of the island's 23 million residents.
In particular, a younger generation fears a future under the influence of Beijing and doesn't want Taiwan to become another Chinese territory.
"Taiwanese people are very peaceful. We want a peaceful relationship with mainland China, but that shouldn't mean we have to sacrifice our way of life and our democracy," said Huang Kuo-chang, leader of the New Power Party, one of a number of smaller opposition parties.
His party emerged from 2014's "Sunflower Movement," when scores of student protesters stormed and occupied Taiwan's Legislature and Cabinet building to object to a trade pact that symbolized Taiwan's deepening relations with mainland China.
The economy is a particular concern for many young people, with unemployment standing at 12% among 20- to 24-year-olds -- three times the overall jobless rate, according to official statistics.
Katie Hunt wrote and reported from Hong Kong, Kristie Lu Stout and Yuli Yang reported from Taipei. CNN's Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
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