‘Taiwan is showing the world how much we cherish our free, democratic way of life and how much we cherish our nation’

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen declared a landslide win in Saturday’s election as voters delivered a stunning rebuke of Beijing’s campaign to isolate the self-ruled island and handed its first woman leader a second term. Ms. Tsai, 63, announced her victory as thousands of jubilant supporters cheered and waved flags outside her party headquarters with the ongoing vote count revealing an all but unassailable lead.

“Taiwan is showing the world how much we cherish our free, democratic way of life and how much we cherish our nation,” she told reporters.

Her main rival, Han Kuo-yu of the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party, had conceded defeat shortly beforehand. Official results showed Ms. Tsai was romping ahead with 57% — more than eight million votes — on Saturday evening.

The Central Election Commission was still counting votes when Ms. Tsai declared, but Mr. Han knew he could not close the gap.