Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文
Tsai Ing-wen on March 13, 2009
9th Chairperson of the DPP
Incumbent
Assumed office  May 20, 2008
Preceded by	Chen Shui-bian
Vice Premier of the ROC
In office January 25, 2006 – May 21, 2007
President	Chen Shui-bian
Premier	Su Tseng-chang
Preceded by	Wu Rong-i
Succeeded by	Chiou I-jen
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office December 11, 2004 – January 23, 2006
Constituency	DPP at-large
Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council
In office May 20, 2000 – May 20, 2004
President	Chen Shui-bian
Premier	Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung Yu Shyi-kun
Succeeded by	Joseph Wu
Born	August 31, 1956 (1956-08-31) (age 54) Pingtung County, Taiwan
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Alma mater	National Taiwan University Cornell University London School of Economics
Religion	Christianity

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Tsai.

Tsai Ing-wen (Chinese: 蔡英文; pinyin: Cài Yīngwén; Wade–Giles: Tsai⁴ Ying¹-wen²; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhoà Eng-bûn; born August 31, 1956 in Pingtung County, Taiwan) is the current chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She was one of the chief drafters of the Special state-to-state relations doctrine of President Lee Teng-hui. She also formerly served as a Vice Premier of the Republic of China (more commonly known as Taiwan) under President Chen Shui-bian.

Tsai is a graduate of National Taiwan University, Cornell University Law School, and the London School of Economics, where she studied law. After she returned to Taiwan, she held professorial positions at several universities until 1993 before being appointed to a succession of bodies.

Tsai is currently running for the municipal elections in late 2010 for the Xinbei City mayor.

Early career

After graduating from the College of Law at National Taiwan University in 1978, she obtained a master's degree in Legal Science from Cornell University Law School in 1980 and then a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics (1984). Upon her return to Taiwan, she taught law at Soochow University and National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan.^[1]

She was also appointed to several government agencies including the Fair Trade Commission and the Copyright Commission. She served as consultant for the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council.^[1] She was also convener of the drafting team on the Statute Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (traditional Chinese: 港澳關係條例).

Rise in politics

In 2000, Tsai was given the high-profile appointment of chairperson 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 legislator-at-large.

On January 26, 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 May 17, 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.^[2] She then served as the chair of TaiMedBiologics, a biotechnology company based in Taiwan.^[3]

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 sex, occupation, or even political party affiliations.^[4]

On May 19, 2008, Tsai defeated Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) in the election for DPP chairperson, and succeeded outgoing Frank Hsieh as the 12th-term chairperson of the party.

DPP chairmanship

Tsai took office on May 20, 2008, the same day Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as President. She said that DPP would work to deepen Taiwan separatist movement while defending social justice. She criticized Ma for mentioning closer Cross-Strait relations but nothing about Taiwan's sovereignty.^[5]

Tsai questioned Ma's stand on Taiwan's sovereign status. Ma emphasized the importance of the 1992 Consensus and called Tsai an Taiwan independence extremist (In Chinese). Tsai criticized Ma's government for not answering her question and labeling others.^[6]

After former President Chen Shui-bian's acknowledgement of transferring past campaign funds overseas, Tsai apologized to the public and also said that the DPP would not try to cover up for Chen's alleged misdeeds.^[7] Tsai has also vowed to weed out any and all corrupt members in the party and has set up a special internal investigative committee for the task. Tsai has been impartial in light of Chen's acknowledgement.^[8]

On April 25, 2010, Tsai participated in a televised debate against President and Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou over a proposed trade deal with China. While President Ma believed that the agreement with mainland China, called the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), would increase Taiwanese exports to 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 World Trade Organization, which would offer more trade protections.^[9]

References

External links

• 葉菊蘭不委屈　她要上山下海，主動把客家人找出來！