The presidency of Tsai Ing-wen officially began on 20 May 2016 when Tsai Ing-wen was inaugurated as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Tsai, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, took office following her landslide victory in the 2016 presidential election over Kuomintang opponent Eric Chu and People First opponent James Soong. Four years later, in the 2020 election, Tsai defeated KMT nominee Han Kuo-yu for a second term. Tsai is the first woman to be elected as president of Taiwan, first unmarried president, and first president to be of both Hakka and aboriginal descent (a quarter Paiwan from her grandmother).Ministry of Foreign Affairs brochures MOFA-EN-FO-105-011-I-1 (also appearing in Taiwan Review, May/June 2016) and −004-I-1. She is the first President to have never held an elected executive post before serving as president, the first to be popularly elected without having previously served as the Mayor of Taipei, and the second President from the Democratic Progressive Party, following Chen Shui-bian. Term-limited after two terms, the presidency of Tsai was succeeded by the presidency of William Lai on 20 May 2024. According to opinion polls, her approval rating exceeded 50 percent at the end of her term, marking the first such case in Taiwan’s democratic era.

Transition, Inauguration and Administration

Former Finance Minister Lin Chuan was selected as a co-convener of Tsai's transition team set up to manage the transfer of power from the outgoing Ma Ying-jeou administration. On 15 March 2016, president-elect Tsai named Lin premier. He was confirmed by the Legislative Yuan soon after and took office on 20 May 2016. Chen Chien-jen, who served as Tsai's running mate in the 2016 election, took office as vice-president the same day.

In the inauguration speech for her first term, Tsai stated policy goals such as pension reform, long-term care for the elderly, transitional justice, and judicial reform. She outlined an economic policy of diversification via the New Southbound Policy as well as prioritization of innovative industries. In terms of cross-strait policy, she acknowledged the 1992 Consensus without agreeing to it and called for continued cross-strait dialogue.

In her second inauguration speech, Tsai outlined her major goals in her second term, including instituting a lay judge system, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, and establishing a human rights commission under the Control Yuan. She also outlined her economic policy, which included transitioning from manufacturing to high-tech industries, with a focus on existing semiconductor and information and communications technology industries, cybersecurity, biotechnology and healthcare, domestic production of military equipment, green energy and strategically-critical industries. She proposed goals for defense reform, including a focus on asymmetric warfare, maintenance of a military reserve force, and reform in management to reflect a democratic society. On cross-strait issues, she explicitly rejected the one country, two systems model proposed by Beijing and expressed a desire for both sides to coexist peacefully.

Administration Title Picture Name Political party Term Deputy Notes President Tsai Ing-wen Democratic Progressive Party 20 May 2016 – 20 May 2024 Not applicable Vice President Chen Chien-jen Independent 20 May 2016 – 20 May 2020 Not applicable Lai Ching-te Democratic Progressive Party 20 May 2020 – 20 May 2024 Not applicable Secretary-General to the President Lin Bih-jaw Kuomintang 20 May 2016 – 19 October 2016 Not applicable Liu Chien-sin Democratic Progressive Party 20 October 2016 – 17 May 2017 Not applicable Joseph Wu Democratic Progressive Party 18 May 2017 – 26 February 2018 Not applicable Liu Chien-sin Democratic Progressive Party 26 February 2018 – 23 April 2018 Chen Chu Democratic Progressive Party 23 April 2018 – 20 May 2020 Su Jia-chyuan Democratic Progressive Party 20 May 2020 – 2 August 2020 Liu Chien-sin Democratic Progressive Party 2 August 2020 – 3 August 2020 David Lee Kuomintang 3 August 2020 – 31 January 2023 Special-appointed Deputy Secretary-General: (Unavailable, to be appointed) Deputy Secretary-General: Li Junyi (Democratic Progressive Party) Lin Chia-lung Democratic Progressive Party 31 January 2023 – 20 May 2024 Secretary General of the National Security Council Wellington Koo Democratic Progressive Party 20 May 2020 – 20 May 2024 Deputy Secretary-General: Chen Wenzheng (Democratic Progressive Party), Xu Sijian advisory members: Fu Dongcheng, Chen Junlin, Guo Linwu, Li Hanming, Chen Mingqi Director of the National Security Bureau Tsai Ming-yen Not applicable 31 January 2023 – 20 May 2024 Deputy Director: Ke Chengheng (Democratic Progressive Party), Chen Wenfan, Hu Muyuan Spokesperson for the presidential palace , Gao Zun Democratic Progressive Party 31 January 2023 – 20 May 2024 Curator of National History Museum Democratic Progressive Party 5 July 2019 – 20 May 2024 Deputy Director: He Zhilin Dean of Academia Sinica James C. Liao Not applicable 21 June 2016 Deputy Deans: Chou Mei-yin, Liu Fu-tong, Huang Chin-shing Deputies are not appointed by the president, but are recommended by the academician conference. Liao Junzhi recommended the first candidate for the academician conference. Fixed term system, five-year term

Cabinets (Executive Yuan) Succession Picture Name Political party Term Vice-Premier Notes 1 Lin Chuan Not applicable 20 May 2016 – 3 September 2017 Lin Hsi-yao 2 Lai Ching-te Democratic Progressive Party 8 September 2017 – 11 January 2019 Shih Jun-ji 3 Su Tseng-chang Democratic Progressive Party 14 January 2019 – 31 January 2023 Shen Jong-chin 4 Chen Chien-jen Democratic Progressive Party 31 January 2023 – 20 May 2024 Cheng Wen-tsan

Policies and actions Defense policy and indigenous programs

Under the Tsai administration, military spending has risen in Taiwan relative to GDP. The defense budget was set to $327 billion NTD in 2018 and $346 billion in 2019. The defense budget in 2020 was set to $411 billion NTD, estimated to be 2.3% of GDP, representing an 8.3% increase in total spending over the previous year and a 0.2% increase in percentage of GDP. The administration has also focused on defensive self-sufficiency and developing indigenous industries, such as in submarines and missiles. The AIDC T-5 Brave Eagle indigenous jet trainer, which started development in 2017, successfully conducted its first test flight in 2020. On 29 June 2020, Tsai announced measures to shore up Taiwan's military reserves, including assigning them the same combat gear as active servicemembers and synchronization of mobilization. The first domestically-produced rapid mine-laying ship was delivered on 4 August 2020, and construction on an indigenous diesel submarine began in November 2020. The navy's first indigenous amphibious transport dock was launched on April 13, 2021; named Yu Shan after the mountain with the same name and built by CSBC, it will replace the aging ROCN Hsu Hai (formerly the USS Pensacola).

On 11 March 2022, a special force soldier wrote to Tsai, reporting that insufficient basic logistic supply compelled combatants to purchase equipment from outsider suppliers at their own expense for two years, then being disqualified as non-standard upon inspection, in contrast of the reserve trainees receiving new sets; and appealed to abolish the mandatory diary writing for examination. The classified "2022006470" document was somehow illegally leaked from the presidential palace to the media with his identity exposed on 18 March, then Minister of National Defense, Chiu Kuo-cheng reacted: "I will not let him get away with it", "Fix the crying baby!"; but later clarified after being questioned by the parliament members in the Legislative Yuan, that he just disgusts the coward behavior behind his back, and the critique unfair to the preparatory staff. The case raised the society concern on the standard operating procedure practice on the data security breach to the presidential office.

Cross strait policy

During her first inauguration speech, Tsai acknowledged that the talks surrounding the 1992 Consensus took place without agreeing that a consensus was reached. She credited the talks with spurring 20 years of dialogue and exchange between the two sides. She hoped that exchanges would continue on the basis of these historical facts, as well as the existence of the Republic of China constitutional system and democratic will of the Taiwanese people. In response, Beijing called Tsai's answer an "incomplete test paper" because Tsai did not agree to the content of the 1992 Consensus. On 25 June 2016, Beijing suspended official cross-strait communications, with any remaining cross-strait exchanges thereafter taking place through unofficial channels.

On 10 October 2016 (the ROC's National Day), Tsai stated the New Four Noes: "our pledges will not change, and our goodwill will not change; but we will not bow to pressure, and we will of course not revert to the old path of confrontation".

In January 2019, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party wrote an open letter to Taiwan proposing a one country, two systems formula for eventual unification. Tsai responded to Xi in a January 2019 speech by stating that Taiwan rejects "one country, two systems" and that because Beijing equates the 1992 Consensus with "one country, two systems", Taiwan rejects the 1992 Consensus as well. Tsai rejected one country, two systems explicitly again in her second inauguration speech, and reaffirmed her previous stance that cross-strait exchanges be held on the basis of parity between the two sides. She further remarked that cross-strait relations had reached a "historical turning point."

Energy policy

The Tsai administration has stated an electricity supply goal of 20% from renewables, 30% from coal and 50% from liquefied natural gas by 2025.

Green energy

Bills under the umbrella of the Forward-Looking Infrastructure initiative have been used to fund green energy initiatives. The administration plans to install 1,000 wind turbines on land and offshore and has contracted Ørsted of Denmark to install 900 MW of capacity and wpd of Germany to install 1 GW of capacity. Taiwan's first offshore wind farm, Formosa I, consisting of 22 wind turbines expected to produce 128 MW of electric power, is slated to begin operations at the end of 2019. The government also purchased 520 MW of solar capacity in 2017 and more than 1 GW in 2018; total capacity was 2.8 GW at the end of 2018, with the government planning to deploy an addition 1.5 GW of solar energy in 2019 and 2.2 GW in 2020.

Break-up of Taipower

The government approved amendments to the Electricity Act on 20 October 2016 to break up the state-owned monopoly Taipower into subsidiaries and further liberalize the power sector by allowing companies to sell electricity to users directly rather than selling through Taipower. In particular, the generation and distribution divisions of Taipower are to be separated. Amongst the stated motivations for liberalisation was to allow for the direct purchase of green energy by consumers. The plan also included emissions controls, the creation of a regulatory agency, mandatory reserve margins (waived for start-up green energy companies), and measures for price stabilization. The plan was met with protests by Taipower employees.

Nuclear energy

Tsai campaigned on a promise to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025, which was codified into law on 11 January 2017 via amendments to the Electricity Act. An energy blackout due to an unrelated operational mistake have led some to question the nuclear phase-out. According to the results of the 2018 referendum, this provision was abolished on 7 May 2019. Nonetheless, the administration has maintained a goal of phasing out nuclear energy.

Forward-looking infrastructure