Taiwan vote keeps China relations on track

It's business as usual for China and Taiwan as the Taiwanese president wins a second term.<br/> Re-elected with more than 50 percent of the votes, President Ma Ying-jeou is expected to strengthen ties with the country's powerful neighbour.<br/> China claims Taiwan as a renegade province which should eventually be reunified with the mainland.<br/> Ma's victory allays China's fears that an opposition party win would mean a push for independence.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) UNIVERSITY STUDENT YING FANGZHOU SAYING:<br/> "Everyone in our family is very happy. Last night, all of us stayed seated by the television and kept the voting website open so that we could check it every few minutes. And when we saw that he had a strong lead in the votes, all of us let out a breath of relief."<br/> The president's Nationalist Party also won a majority in parliament and at home, Taiwanese expect little change.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 51-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN, LIN CHU-DAO, SAYING:<br/> "I think in the future his policy won't be very different from the past four years, it will be mainly stable. I hope the Ma government can improve the economy, our economy should not only rely on the Chinese market, because there are other big markets in the world."<br/> The president neither advocates independence nor unification with China.<br/> Lindsey Parietti, Reuters