New Taiwanese President Eyes Major Reforms

Tsai Ing Wen of the Democratic Progressive Party was elected President of The Republic of China this past weekend, winning 56% of the vote. 

Tsai Ing Wen’s Campaign HQ in 2016

Taiwan just got their own, self-called “trendy” female president, like South Korea’s Park Geun Hye and Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, but the woman’s gender isn’t exactly where her attention is coming from.

The 59 year old came a long way to presidency, having studied law first in National Taiwan University, then receiving her masters  from Cornell University, and PhD from the London School of Economics.

She first joined the Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on 2004, and lost her first presidential race on 2012. Her party lost to the the long-time ruling political party of Kuomintang. The two parties stand on opposite sides of the political spectrum, with the Kuomintang supporting eventual reunification with China, while the DPP leans more towards independence, and more hesitant of closer ties with mainland China.

Her election will undoubtedly strain the already absent diplomatic relations between the “two” Chinas. Mainland China, and Taiwan have been both diplomatically and geographically separated ever since the Chinese Civil War, which ended with the Communist Party of China gaining control of the mainland, and the ROC government retreating to the Taiwanese island.

As new leader of Taiwan, Tsai Ing Wen will prioritize working on Taiwan’s slow economy, while also advocating a distinct Taiwanese identity.