Driver/Transportation
Pioneer Landscaping
Drivers/End-Dumps General
Alvernon North Apartments
Maintenance Tech PT Health Care
Mountain View Retirement Village
LPN Real Estate
Sea Property Management
Manager Trades/Construction
arizona portland cement
maintenance electrician Education
Ombudsman Educational Servies
Directors and Teachers Restaurants and Clubs
Zinburger
All Positions

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's opposition candidate won the presidential election Saturday, a victory many hope will defuse decades of tension with China over the neighboring island's aspirations for independence.

Taiwan's Central Election Commission also said two referendums calling on the government to work for the island's entry into the United Nations failed.

Giddy followers at Ma Ying-jeou's headquarters celebrated his victory over Frank Hsieh, a former premier whose party supports Taiwan's independence.

Ma's win returns the presidency to the Nationalist Party, which ruled Taiwan for five decades before suffering defeats in the past two elections.

Ma, who takes office May 20, should be relatively palatable to Beijing because the Nationalists ostensibly favor unification with China. Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since the Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949.

Ma, 57, promised voters he will try to negotiate a peace treaty with Beijing and deepen Taiwan's already robust economic relationship with the mainland. But he pledged that he wouldn't negotiate unification with Beijing because the vast majority of Taiwanese didn't want to become part of the communist mainland.

"I will make it crystal-clear that Taiwan will be a stakeholder and will not rock the boat in the region. By 'stakeholder,' I mean peacemaker," he said.

For the past eight years, Chinese leaders have refused to talk to President Chen Shui-bian. Beijing deeply distrusted the independence-leaning Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party because he rejected China's insistence on unification.

One referendum asked voters if they would support the island's application to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan, rather than under its long-standing official title, Republic of China. About 5.5 million "yes" votes were counted, election commission figures show. As for the other referendum, 4.9 million "yes" votes were counted for joining under the name of the Republic of China or an undefined alternative. In each referendum, about 8.5 million votes were necessary for passage.

Ma won 58 percent of the votes, compared to 41.5 percent to Hsieh. Turnout was 76 percent.