Table of Biography
Tsai Ing-wen is a politician from Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen has served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016 and is the 14th President and the first female Leader of Taiwan.
Early Life
Tsai Ing-wen was born on the 31st of August 1956, in Mackay Memorial Hospital, Zhongshan, Taipei, Taiwan. She is currently 67 years old and has a birth sign of Virgo. In addition, she is Taiwanese by her nationality and belongs to the Hakka ethnicity.
Caption: Tsai Ing-wen with her mother (Source: Taiwan News)
She was born to her parents Tsai Chieh-sheng (father) and Chang Chin-Fong (mother). By profession, Ing-wen’s father ran an auto repair shop and had four mistresses. She is the youngest of the nine children of her parents. Meanwhile, her siblings are Tsai Ying-yang, Tsai Ying-ling, Tsai Yueh-Ying, Tsai Feng-Chiao, Tsai Ing-cheng, Tsai Ying-nan, Tsai Ying-Ju, Tsai Ying-Jen, Tsai Ying-ming, and Tsai Ying-Chun.
Tsai Ing-wen – Education
Moving on to her academic qualification, she completed high school at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School. Then, she went to the National Taiwan University and earned a degree in law. Moreover, she earned a Master of Law from Cornell University Law School in 1980. Later, she enrolled to study at the London School of Economics before receiving a Ph.D. in law from the University of London in 1984.
Professional Career
Initially, Tsai Ing-wen began working as an educator in the School of Law at Soochow University and National Chengchi University in Taipei. She entered government service in the early 1990s, where she was a key trade negotiator in Taiwan’s entry into the World Trade Organization under the then-ruling Kuomintang (KMT). When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took power in 2000, Tasi was appointed Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council.
Then, Ing-wen joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2004 and was eventually nominated by the DPP to be a candidate in the 2004 legislative election. Moreover, she was selected for the post of vice president of the Executive Yuan in 2006. She also served as chairwoman of the Consumer Protection Commission at that time. In the year 2007, she resigned from the post along with the rest of the cabinet when Premier Su Tseng-chang left his post. The following year, she defeated Koo Kwang-ming in the election for DPP chairperson.
Caption: Tsai Ing-wen entering the hall (Source: Politico)
In 2016, she became the first female leader of Taiwan when she was elected with 56% of the vote, beating her opponent Eric Chu by a margin of 25.04%. Since then, she has broken protocol by making overtures to the U.S., creating tensions with mainland China. In the 2020 reelection, Tsai again won with more than 57% of the popular vote.
Tsai is the Democratic Progressive Party’s second president, and the first popularly elected president who has never served as Mayor of Taipei. Internationally, she has been praised for her response to the COVID-19 pandemic and challenging pressure from the People’s Republic of China’s government. In November 2022, she resigned as leader of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), citing her party’s poor performance in local elections earlier that month.
Tsai Ing-wen – Awards
Caption: President Tsai Ing-wen receives the Global Leadership Award from the Hudson Institute (Source: RTI Radio Taiwan International)
Ing-wen has won several awards and honors for her works. In 2016, she was honored with the Grand Collar of the National Order of Merit. The next year, she earned the Grand Cross with Gold Star of the National Order of Doctor Jose Matias Delgado. In 2018, she earned an Order of Belize and Grand Cross of the National Order of Honour and Merit. She received the Order of St Christopher and Nevis in 2019. In 2020, she was honored by Time’s list of the most influential people.
Net Worth 2024
Ing-wen hasn’t made much of her wealth public. However, she may have amassed a sizable net worth, salary, and real estate holdings up to this point.
Relationship Status
Tsai Ing-wen has not yet married. She is currently single. Moreover, she is more concerned with her career than with being in a romantic relationship.
She was accused of forging her doctoral dissertation and academic credentials from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in September 2021. As a result, she has filed a civil defamation lawsuit against the two scholars who have repeatedly questioned her without providing evidence.
Body Measurements
Ing-wen stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and her weight is average. Meanwhile, she has a pair of black eyes with black hair color. While her other body measurements aren’t available in the media.
Social Media
On her Instagram page ‘@tsai_ingwen’ there are over 945k followers. Likewise, there are over 2.3 million followers on her Twitter page ‘@iingwen’ and over 3.1 million on her Facebook.