Who is Tsai Ing-wen? The First Female President of Taiwan

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, left Taiwan on Wednesday after vowing solidarity and praising the country's democracy.

Pelosi landed with a congressional group late Tuesday on an unannounced but closely watched visit, defying China's repeated warnings and demonstrating the United States' unshakeable support for Taiwan's democracy.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen

"Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan,” Pelosi told Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. “Now, more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, and that’s the message we are bringing here, today," she said during her 19-hour tour to Taiwan.

Who is Tsai Ing-wen?

• Tsai was elected as Taiwan's first female president and also the first unmarried one in 2016.
• Since taking office, she has defied protocol by making overtures to the United States, going againt mainland China.
• Tsai was re-elected with more than 57 per cent of the public vote in 2020. Her triumph was interpreted as a rebuke to Beijing's efforts to maintain control of the island.
• Tsai's leadership through COVID-19 is viewed as a global model; Taiwan implemented a stringent track and trace mechanism in 2020 to prevent mass transmission.
• By fostering the economy with projects in biotech, military, and green energy, she has committed to make Taiwan an integral member of the global community.

Early Life and Career

Tsai was born in Zhongshan district, Taipei city on August 31, 1956. She completed her Bachelor's in Law from National Taiwan University in 1978 and her Master's from Cornell Law School in 1980. In 1984, she went to pursue legal studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science and earned a PhD with a minor in international studies. After returning to Taiwan, she became a law professor at the Soochow University School of Law (1984-1991) and National Chengchi University (1991-1993).

She was assigned to a number of governmental roles, including trade negotiator for WTO affairs in 2002, as an independent (without party affiliation) by the then ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) in 1993.

Additionally, Tsai was assigned to the Copyright Commission and the Fair Trade Commission (1992-2000). She worked as a consultant for the National Security Council and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). She was also in charge of the group that drafted the rules governing relations with Hong Kong and Macau, a special state-to-state relations policy under President Lee Teng-hui.

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Tsai was officially nominated as the DPP's presidential candidate on April 15, 2015, where she openly declared her support for the status quo. As a result, she was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine on June 29, 2015, with the headline "She could lead the only Chinese democracy, and that makes Beijing nervous."

On January 16, 2016, she defeated her opponent Eric Chu, who received 31.07 per cent of the vote, and easily won the election with 56.12 per cent of the vote. Tsai was named one of "The 100 Most Influential People" in TIME magazine's 2 May 2016 issue following her election.