Taiwan president wins by landslide in stinging rebuke to China
A landslide victory of almost 8.2 million votes for Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday (January 11) as she was re-elected in a stern rebuke to China.
(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) TAIWAN PRESIDENT TSAI ING-WEN SAYING:
"Taiwan's people decline the 'one country, two systems' model, we respect democracy and our sovereign rights. As the president of Taiwan, I must deal with the cross strait relations according to the will of the people. Just now, as I started the speech I spent a lot of time explaining how we had dealt with cross strait relations and how we will deal with it in the future. I hope this election result sends China a clear message and that they will understand what Taiwan's people want. And I hope they can understand that a stable relationship comes from the mutual efforts of both sides, it's not a responsibility of one side. On this basis, we are willing to start a positive interaction (with China)."
China and months of anti-government unrest and protests in Hong Kong took centre stage in her campaign, with Tsai holding out Taiwan as a beacon of hope for protesters in the former British colony.
China claims Taiwan as its sacred territory, to be taken by force if needed.
A threat which Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated year ago, though he said he preferred a peaceful solution.
Tsai beat her main opponent Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang party - which favours closer ties to China - by more than 2.6 million votes.
