Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the 7th president of the Republic of China from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), she was the first woman to serve in the office.
Born in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Tsai graduated from National Taiwan University in 1978, earned a master's degree in law from Cornell University in 1980, and earned her doctorate in law from the London School of Economics in 1984 before becoming a law professor. Appointed to government positions by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) in 1993, she was one of the chief drafters of the special state-to-state relations doctrine under President Lee Teng-hui. During Chen Shui-bian's first term, she chaired the Mainland Affairs Council, before joining the DPP in 2004 and serving briefly in the Legislative Yuan. She was appointed Vice Premier under Su Tseng-chang but resigned in 2007.
Following the DPP's defeat in the 2008 presidential election, Tsai was elected party chair, a position she held three times (2008–2012, 2014–2018, and 2020–2022). In 2011, she became the first woman nominated as a presidential candidate by a major Taiwanese party, narrowly defeating Su Tseng-chang in the DPP primary. She lost the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Ma Ying-jeou before winning the 2016 presidential election by a landslide against Eric Chu. She was re-elected in 2020 over Han Kuo-yu and was succeeded by Lai Ching-te.
Early life and career Tsai was born at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Zhongshan District, Taipei City, on 31 August 1956. She was the youngest of eleven children. Her father, Tsai Chieh-sheng (1918–2006), was a businessman who ran an auto repair shop, and her mother, Chang Chin-fong (1925–2018), was a housewife. Chieh-sheng was of Hakka Chinese descent while Chin-fong was an aboriginal Taiwanese member of the Paiwan. Tsai also has two pet cats, Tsai Xiang Xiang and Tsai a-tsai. Both were stray cats that Tsai adopted.
Tsai went to high school at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School. She chose to study law at the behest of her father. After graduation, she studied law at National Taiwan University and graduated with her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1978. Tsai then completed graduate studies in the United States at Cornell University, where she earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Cornell Law School in 1980. She chose to pursue doctoral studies afterwards in England at the London School of Economics and was awarded a Ph.D. in law from the University of London in 1984.
After she received her doctorate, Tsai returned to Taiwan and taught law at the School of Law of Soochow University and National Chengchi University, both in Taipei. In the 1990s, Tsai was also appointed to the Fair Trade Commission and the Copyright Commission. She served as consultant for the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council. She also led the drafting team on the Statute Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau ().
Rise in politics In 2000, Tsai was given the high-profile appointment of chair of the Mainland Affairs Council. Confirming the widely held belief that she maintained Pan-Green sympathies, Tsai joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2004. She was subsequently nominated by the DPP to be a candidate in the 2004 legislative election and was elected as a legislator-at-large.
On 26 January 2006, Tsai was appointed to the post of vice president of the Executive Yuan, a position commonly referred to as vice premier. She concurrently served as chairwoman of the Consumer Protection Commission.
On 17 May 2007, Tsai, along with the rest of the cabinet of out-going Premier Su Tseng-chang, resigned to make way for incoming Premier Chang Chun-hsiung and his cabinet. Premier Chang named Chiou I-jen, the incumbent secretary-general of the Presidential Office to replace Tsai as vice premier. She then served as the chair of TaiMedBiologics, a biotechnology company based in Taiwan. The Kuomintang accused Tsai of contracting government work out to TaiMedBiologics during her term as vice premier, while planning to leave the government and lead the company afterward. She was later cleared of all alleged wrongdoing.
In Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou's search for his running mate for the 2008 ROC presidential election, Tsai, a DPP member, was surprisingly suggested. Ma stated that there were no set criteria for a running mate, that his search would not be defined by gender, occupation, or even party affiliation.
On 19 May 2008, Tsai defeated Koo Kwang-ming in the election for DPP chair, and succeeded outgoing Frank Hsieh as the 12th-term chair of the party. She was the first woman to chair a major Taiwanese political party.
DPP chair
First term: 2008–2012
Tsai took office on 20 May 2008, the same day Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as president. She said that DPP would work to deepen the Taiwanese localization movement while defending social justice. She criticized Ma for mentioning closer Cross-Strait relations but nothing about Taiwan's sovereignty and national security.
On 25 April 2010, Tsai participated in a televised debate against President and Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou over a proposed trade agreement, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA); while President Ma believed ECFA would increase Taiwanese exports to mainland China and lower unemployment rates, Tsai said it "will force Taiwan to open up for cheap Chinese exports eventually" and certain domestic industries will be harmed by the mainland trade invasion. Tsai also said that the pact "will make Taiwan lose its independence in cross-strait relations and become a Chinese parasite" and that Taiwan should negotiate with China under the multilateral-framework World Trade Organization, which would offer more trade protections and emphasize Taiwan's distinct status.
Under Tsai's leadership, along with some of KMT's unpopular policies, the DPP regained momentum in elections of 2009, after major defeats from 2006 to 2008. In 2010, she was re-elected as the chair of the DPP.
Tsai resigned as chair of the DPP after losing her 2012 presidential election bid to incumbent Ma Ying-jeou.
Second term: 2014–2018 On 15 March 2014, Tsai announced that she would once more run for party chief of the DPP against incumbent Su Tseng-chang and Frank Hsieh. However, both Su and Hsieh dropped out of the election in the aftermath of the Sunflower Student Movement. Tsai defeated Kaohsiung County deputy commissioner Kuo Tai-lin by 79,676 votes.
Tsai led the DPP to an historic victory in the local elections held on 29 November 2014, in which the party secured leadership of 13 of Taiwan's 22 municipalities and counties. The DPP's stunning victory in the elections strengthened Tsai's position within the party and placed her as the front-runner in the 2016 Presidential Elections; she announced her second bid for the Presidency on 15 February 2015. On 16 January 2016, she won the election by a landslide, winning 56.1% of votes, beating her opponent Eric Chu, who won 31.1% of the votes.
On 24 November 2018, she resigned as leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and refused Premier Lai Ching-te's resignation after a major defeat in local elections.
Third term: 2020–2022 Tsai resumed the Democratic Progressive Party leadership from Cho Jung-tai on 20 May 2020, when she was inaugurated for her second presidential term. She resigned as party leader following the 2022 Taiwanese local elections.
Presidential campaigns 2012
On 11 March 2011, Tsai Ing-wen officially announced her run for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party. On 27 April 2011, Tsai became the first female presidential candidate in Taiwan after she defeated former Premier Su Tseng-chang by a small margin in a nationwide phone poll (of more than 15,000 samples) that served as the party's primary. Tsai ran against incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang and James Soong of the People First Party in the 5th direct presidential election, which was held on 14 January 2012. Garnering 45.63% of the vote, she conceded defeat to President Ma in an international press conference, resigning her seat as Chairman of the DPP.
2016
On 15 February 2015, Tsai officially registered for the Democratic Progressive Party's presidential nomination primary. Though Lai Ching-te and Su Tseng-chang were seen as likely opponents, Tsai was the only candidate to run in the primary and the DPP officially nominated her as the presidential candidate on 15 April.
During summer of 2015, Tsai embarked on a visit to the United States and met a number of US policy makers including Senators John McCain and Jack Reed. In her speech addressing Taiwanese diaspora on the east coast of the United States, Tsai signaled a willingness to cooperate with the rising Third Party coalition in Taiwan in the incoming general election. On 14 November, Tsai's campaign announced that she had chosen Chen Chien-jen as DPP vice presidential candidate. On 16 January 2016, Tsai won the presidential election, beating her opponent Eric Chu by a margin of 25.04%. Tsai was inaugurated as president on 20 May 2016.
After her election, Tsai was named one of "The 100 Most Influential People" in TIME magazine 2 May 2016 issue.
2020
Tsai announced on 19 February 2019 via an interview with CNN that she would run for reelection as president in 2020. She registered to run in the Democratic Progressive Party presidential primary on 21 March 2019. Tsai defeated Lai Ching-te in the primary, and the Democratic Progressive Party nominated her as its candidate for the 2020 presidential election on 19 June 2019. Tsai and Lai formed the Democratic Progressive Party ticket on 17 November 2019.
During the campaign Tsai emphasized her administration's progressive reforms and support for social justice, national security, and democratic values. Initially, Tsai's approval ratings were low and she was expected to lose. However, amid the backdrop of the widely followed pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Tsai's firm rejection of unification with China and her commitment to defend Taiwan's sovereignty translated into a notable increase in public support.
Tsai won a landslide victory with a record of 8.17 million votes, representing 57.1% of the popular vote, the highest vote share won by a DPP candidate in presidential elections. She was sworn in for her second term on May 20, 2020.
Presidency (2016–2024)
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.