TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected by a comfortable margin on Saturday, fending off a challenge from his main rival, Tsai Ing-wen, who criticized his handling of the economy but also sought to exploit fears among voters that Mr. Ma’s conciliatory approach toward China was eroding the island’s sovereignty. 
 
A second term for Mr. Ma will probably suit Beijing, which has matched his enthusiasm for cross-strait rapprochement with a variety of economic and trade pacts. Since Mr. Ma’s election in 2008, Taiwanese exports and investment on the mainland have soared; at home, the economy has been buoyed by more than three million mainland tourists who began arriving shortly after his inauguration.
 
The policies, and the wealth that flowed to exporters, manufacturers and farmers, helped solidify his support despite withering attacks from Ms. Tsai. More than 200,000 citizens who live and work in China returned home to vote, most of them taking the direct flights that Mr. Ma helped establish during his first year in office. Not surprisingly, many returnees were Ma supporters spurred by polls that had showed him in a neck-and-neck bid for re-election.
 
With more than 95 percent of the precincts counted Saturday night, Mr. Ma, 61, of the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, was leading Ms. Tsai, 55, of the Democratic Progressive Party, by about 6 percentage points. A third candidate, James Soong of the People First Party, who had been expected to siphon off as much a tenth of the electorate from Mr. Ma, received 2.7 percent of the vote, the Taiwan media reported.
 
“This isn’t a personal victory, this is a victory for the people of Taiwan,” Mr. Ma said as a driving rain soaked his supporters. “Through this victory, the people have given me a sign to continue with my policies.”
 
Mr. Ma’s Nationalists also retained its majority in the legislature.
 
Beijing had no immediate comment on the outcome, but Communist Party officials have made no secret of their antipathy toward Ms. Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party, which has long championed political independence. 
 
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