Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen
蔡英文
Official portrait, 2016
7th President of the Republic of China
In office
20 May 2016 – 20 May 2024
Premier
Vice PresidentChen Chien-jen
Lai Ching-te
Preceded byMa Ying-jeou
Succeeded byLai Ching-te
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
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 (DPP)
6th 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 68)
Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan
Political partyDemocratic Progressive (since 2004)
EducationNational Taiwan University (LLB)
Cornell University (LLM)
London School of Economics (PhD)
Signature
Scientific career
FieldsLaw and economics
ThesisUnfair trade practices and safeguard actions (1983)
Doctoral advisorMichael Elliott

Tsai Ing-wen (Chinese: 蔡英文; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician who served as the 7th president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024, and was the first woman to hold that position.[1] A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), she intermittently served as chair of the DPP from 2008 to 2012, 2014 to 2018, and 2020 to 2022.[2]

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 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] Her presidency is succeeded by Lai Ching-te of the DPP on 20 May 2024. Tsai is the second president from the DPP, and also the first popularly elected president to have never served as the Mayor of Taipei. She 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.[5][6]

Tsai Ing-wen
"Tsai Ing-wen" in Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinCài Yīngwén
Bopomofoㄘㄞˋ   ㄧㄥ   ㄨㄣˊ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhTsay Ing'wen
Wade–GilesTs’ai4 Ying1-wen2
Tongyong PinyinCài Ying-wún
Yale RomanizationTsài Yīngwén
MPS2Tsài Yīng-wén
IPA[tsʰâɪ íŋ.wə̌n]
Hakka
RomanizationTshai Yîn-vun
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationChoi Yīng-màhn
Jyutpingcoi3 jing1 man4
IPA[tsʰɔj˧ jɪŋ˥.mɐn˩]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChhòa Eng-bûn
Tâi-lôTshuà Ing-bûn


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  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. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "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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