TAIPEI, Dec 11: Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian's party suffered a surprise defeat on Saturday in elections likely to be welcomed in Beijing as a step back from what it sees as dangerous moves towards independence from China.
Political analysts said the result indicated voters were wary of Mr Chen's moves to create a separate Taiwanese identity and Beijing was likely to be pleased that the opposition Nationalist Party, which favours closer ties with China, kept control of parliament.
"We don't want war. We don't want our government to take the road of provocation and create tension," triumphant Nationalist leader Lien Chan told a news conference as hundreds of his supporters waved party flags and set off firecrackers outside.
"We hope that we can maintain the status quo between the two sides," he said, referring to relations with Beijing.
Chinese state television reported the election, but there was no official reaction from the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, which is in charge of policy towards the island.
The Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang, won 114 of 225 legislative seats, including those awarded to allies, the People First Party and the New Party. Another two seats were given to Nationalist Party members who ran as independents.
They defeated Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its pro-independence ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, together won 101 seats. The rest went to independent candidates and other groups, said the Central Election Commission.
Most analysts had expected neither side to score a majority in the tight race.
"The people are saying perhaps that Chen's recent statements and his policies are too radical," said Andrew Yang, a political analyst from the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, a prominent private think tank in Taipei.
The DPP remains the single largest party with 89 seats and the overall results were very similar to that of the 2001 poll.
The Nationalist alliance, known as the opposition under Taiwan's complex political system where policies are set by the president who appoints the cabinet, holds 51 percent of seats in the current legislature. It has effectively used that advantage to block many of the Chen administration's initiatives.
For example, the opposition has blocked a proposed 18 billion dollars special budget to buy advanced defensive weapons from the United States, saying the deal was overpriced.
CHEN CALLS FOR UNITY: Mr Chen had hoped to win control of parliament to push through policies analysts saw as likely to antagonize Beijing. He had promised Taiwan's 23 million people a referendum on a new constitution in 2006 if his party won on Saturday.
This plan suffers a setback with the Nationalist victory as two-thirds of lawmakers need to approve constitutional amendments under a bill passed by parliament in August.
"The end of the election should be the beginning of reconciliation and cooperation," Mr Chen said, adding he fully accepted the result. "Let us unite Taiwan, stabilize ties across the Taiwan Strait and work together for economic prosperity."
While some in Taiwan held out hope the election results would spur China to resume fence-mending talks with Taipei, suspended since 1999, others were less optimistic.
"Even if Chen extends an olive branch to the other side in the foreseeable future, I don't think China will accept it," said analyst George Tsai of National Chengchi University, Taipei.
Beijing is convinced Mr Chen plans to declare statehood before his second term ends in 2008, and China has pointed more than 600 missiles at Taiwan in preparation for possible war. Security analysts view the Taiwan Strait as a dangerous Asian flashpoint.-Reuters