Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen
蔡英文
Official portrait, 2016
7th President of the Republic of China
Outgoing
Assumed office
20 May 2016
Premier
Vice PresidentChen Chien-jen
Lai Ching-te
Preceded byMa Ying-jeou
13th, 15th and 17th Chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party
In office
20 May 2020 – 26 November 2022
Secretary GeneralLin Hsi-yao
Preceded byCho Jung-tai
Succeeded byChen Chi-mai (acting)
In office
28 May 2014 – 24 November 2018
Secretary GeneralJoseph Wu
Hung Yao-fu
Preceded bySu Tseng-chang
Succeeded byLin Yu-chang (acting)
In office
20 May 2008 – 29 February 2012[a]
Secretary General
Preceded byFrank Hsieh (acting)
Succeeded by Kiku Chen Chu (acting)
26th Vice Premier of the Republic of China
In office
25 January 2006 – 21 May 2007
PresidentChen Shui-bian
PremierSu Tseng-chang
Preceded byWu Rong-i
Succeeded byChiou I-jen
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 2005 – 24 January 2006
Succeeded byWu Ming-ming
ConstituencyParty-list (Democratic Progressive Party)
Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council
In office
20 May 2000 – 20 May 2004
PremierTang Fei
Chang Chun-hsiung
Yu Shyi-kun
DeputyChen Ming-tong
Preceded bySu Chi
Succeeded byJoseph Wu
Personal details
Born (1956-08-31) 31 August 1956 (age 67)
Mackay Memorial Hospital, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan
Political partyIndependent (before 2004)
Democratic Progressive (2004–present)
EducationNational Taiwan University (LLB)
Cornell University (LLM)
London School of Economics (PhD)
Signature
Scientific career
FieldsEconomics
Law
ThesisUnfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions (1989)
Doctoral advisorMichael Elliott
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese

Tsai Ing-wen (Chinese: 蔡英文; pinyin: Cài Yīngwén; Wade–Giles: Ts’ai4 Ying1-wen2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Eng-bûn; Paiwan: Tjuku Tsai; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician who has been serving as the 7th president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016.[1] A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan and the second (after Chen Shui-bian) to be born in Taiwan after the end of the Chinese Civil War in December 1949. She served as chair of the DPP from 2020 to 2022, as well as from 2014 to 2018, and from 2008 to 2012.[2] Her second presidential term is due to expire on 20 May 2024, when she will be succeeded by Lai Ching-te.

Tsai was born and raised in Taipei and studied law and international trade, and later became a law professor at Soochow University School of Law and National Chengchi University after earning an LLB from National Taiwan University and an LLM from Cornell Law School. She later studied law at the London School of Economics and was awarded a PhD. In 1993, as an independent (without party affiliation), she was appointed to a series of governmental positions, including trade negotiator for WTO affairs, by the then ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) and was one of the chief drafters of the special state-to-state relations doctrine under the President Lee Teng-hui.[2]

During the first term of Chen Shui-bian's presidency, Tsai served as Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council. She joined the DPP in 2004 and served briefly as a DPP-nominated at-large member of the Legislative Yuan, and was then appointed as Vice Premier under Premier Su Tseng-chang until the cabinet's mass resignation in 2007. Following the DPP's defeat in the presidential election in 2008, she was elected as party chair of the DPP, but she resigned when the party lost the presidential election in 2012.[2]

Tsai ran for New Taipei City mayorship in the 2010 municipal elections but was defeated by the KMT candidate, Eric Chu. In April 2011, Tsai became the first woman to be nominated by a major party as a presidential candidate in the history of Taiwan the Republic of China after defeating her former superior, Su Tseng-chang, in the DPP's primary election by a slight margin.[3] In the 2012 Taiwanese presidential election, she was defeated by the then-president Ma Ying-jeou, but she won her first term of presidency in the 2016 presidential election by a landslide in a rematch against Eric Chu. In the 2020 presidential election, she was re-elected as president after winning the election against Han Kuo-yu.[4] Tsai is the second president from the DPP, and also the first popularly elected president to have never served as the Mayor of Taipei.

Tsai was named one of Time's most influential people of 2020 and was ranked ninth on Forbes's most powerful women in 2021, being the second-highest ranking female politician after Kamala Harris (who placed second in the list, behind philanthropist MacKenzie Scott).[5][6] Internationally, Tsai has been praised for her response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[7] and for standing up to pressure from the People's Republic of China.[8] Tsai resigned as head of the Democratic People's Party (DPP) in November 2022, citing her party's poor performance in local elections earlier that month.[9][10]


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  1. ^ "Inaugural address of ROC 15th-term President Tsai Ing-wen". 20 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "President Tsai". Office of the President Republic of China. Taiwan. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ Sui, Cindy (27 April 2011). "Taiwan's first female presidential candidate picked". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ^ Feng, Emily (11 January 2020). "Rebuking China, Taiwan Votes To Reelect President Tsai Ing-wen". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Tsai Ing-wen: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020". Time. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Tsai ranks ninth on 'Forbes' list of powerful women". Taipei Times. 10 December 2021. p. 3. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's Covid Crusher". Bloomberg News. 3 December 2020. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  8. ^ "The leader who's standing up to China". Reuters. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigns as party leader over election results". SBS News. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  10. ^ "President Tsai resigns as DPP chairperson after election setback - Focus Taiwan". focustaiwan.tw. 26 November 2022. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.

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