India, Jan. 11 -- TAIPEI/KAOHSIUNG: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen took an early lead on Saturday in vote counting for a presidential election that will be closely watched by Beijing, which claims the democratic island as its own, in the shadow of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

One hour after polls closed at 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) Tsai led her main opponent Han Kuo-yu from the opposition Kuomintang party by more than 500,000 votes, according to an initial vote tally by three Taiwanese television stations.

Final results are expected by early Saturday evening. Tsai is due to hold a news conference at 8 p.m. China and the Hong Kong unrest have become major elements in the election as Beijing has ramped up efforts to get Taiwan to accept ...