Ing-Wen Tsai

Ing-Wen Tsai 蔡英文

(Indigenous name: Tjuku)

She was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1956. Her father is Taiwanese (Han nationality). Her mother is from Payuan, one of the native tribe in Taiwan. Her Indigenous name means the round shape of the sun and the daughter of the leader. She started her political life in 2004. She is Taiwan current president and also the first female president.


Dr. Tsai graduated from National Taiwan University with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978. She then studied in the US and the UK, obtaining a Master of Laws degree from Cornell University Law School in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1984, specializing in international trade law and competition law.

Payuan (Paiwan)

The Paiwan (Chinese: 排灣) are an indigenous people of Taiwan. They speak the Paiwan language. In 2014, the Paiwan numbered 96,334. This was approximately 17.8% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the second-largest indigenous group.

The name "Paiwan" may have originated from a myth. According to the myth, Paiwan ancestors lived in a location on Dawu mountain that was called "Paiwan", where heaven is said to exist. Paiwan people have spread out from this location, so the name of the original place was assumed as their group name. According to some group members, "Paiwan" also means "human being".

The unique ceremonies in Paiwan are Masaru and Maleveq. The Masaru is a ceremony that celebrates the harvest of rice, whereas the Maleveq commemorates their ancestors or gods.

Career

  1. Dr. Tsai served as an associate professor and then a professor in the Department of Law at National Chengchi University (1984-1990), a professor at the Soochow University School of Law (1991-1993), and a professor in the Department of International Business at National Chengchi University (1993-2000).

  2. Dr. Tsai began her tenure as part of Taiwan's trade negotiation delegation in the late 1980s. By 1990, Taiwan began working on the bid to join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), eventually gaining admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002. She was on the front lines of the process during key negotiations in her capacity as Chief Legal Advisor (1992-2000). In the 1990s, Dr. Tsai also regularly attended Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, and chaired the Group on Services (GOS) of the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI).

  3. Dr. Tsai served successively as Senior Adviser to the Mainland Affairs Council (1994-1998), Senior Adviser to the National Security Council (1999-2000), and Chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council (2000-2004).

  4. Dr. Tsai was elected DPP chairperson for two successive terms (2008-2010 and 2010-2012), the first woman to chair a major political party in Taiwan. She returned as DPP chairperson in 2014, a position she held until 2018.

  5. Dr. Tsai represented the DPP in Taiwan's 13th-term presidential election in 2012, becoming Taiwan's first female presidential candidate. She ran again as the DPP candidate in 2016, and was elected as the nation's 14th-term president. The first female head of state in Taiwan's history, Tsai Ing-wen is also the first female head of state in Asia who was not born into a political family. Dr. Tsai represented the DPP in the nation’s 15th-term presidential election in 2020 and was successfully re-elected with over 8.17 million votes, the highest total in history. Dr. Tsai was officially sworn in as the 15th-term President in May and concurrently serves as DPP chairperson.

What did she do with Indigenous people

President Tsai apologizes to indigenous peoples on behalf of government

26 years ago, the term "shanbao" (mountain people) in the Additional Articles of our Constitution was replaced with the proper name: "indigenous people". This correction not only did away with a discriminatory term, but also highlighted the status of indigenous peoples as Taiwan's "original owners". And she made 9 promises to improve the rights of the Indigenous people.

Bibliography