BYU-Hawaii’s Taiwanese female students revel in the political victory of Democratic Progressive Party’s President Tsai Ing-wen, a feminist milestone for the East Asia region. President Tsai, 59, has no children, two cats, and a lot of determination.
She is highly educated and well qualified, having earned law degrees at National Taiwan University and Cornell University, and received a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics, according to CNN.
She is fluent in English and is perhaps the island’s most cosmopolitan leader in comparison with Taiwan’s past presidents. Jen Yuan, a senior majoring in accounting from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, said of Tsai, “She’s pretty good…she’s from a very well-off family. She got a very good education, and she’s very ambitious. She used to be a professor at my college.
According to her proposal of her future policy, she basically [wants] to take care of the people of bottom or middle social status.”
Yuan continued, “She is going to build some very affordable housing. I think the other reason why people like her is because she takes care of street animals. She is going to build some shelters and hire some people to take care of the stray animals.” Tsai’s gender helped her stand out in the elections, although it did not have a major role in her campaign, according to The New York Times.
The matriarchal social structures of Taiwan’s indigenous population and the integration of more girls into the education system during the Japanese occupation are contributing factors to the country’s rapid empowerment of women, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Straits Times reports gender quotas have been implemented into the Taiwanese political system which guarantee women have a presence in governmental functions. As Taiwan became increasingly democratic late into the 20th century, the role of women in society gradually increased, according to The New York Times.
Nava Chen, a visiting student with the Asia Executive Management Program from Taitung, Taiwan, said, “This is a big surprise, not only in Taiwan, but in all of Asia. It’s not only about women’s status, it’s about the whole culture.”Tsai’s election is significant in comparison to that of other female leaders in the surrounding region.
According to Korea Portal, Park Geun-hye, president of South Korea, gained popularity in part because her father had been the nation’s president during the 1960s and 1970s. Financial Times reported Corazon C. Aquino and Gloria Macapagal, both former presidents of the Philippines, had familial ties to political leaders.
According to the Dhaka Tribune, Bangladeshi presidents Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia had also benefited as close relatives to past presidents. For Tsai Ing-Wen, there is no strong family connection to the political arena.
Ikaika Fowlke, a BYUH senior majoring in history from Wyoming, who is now studying abroad learning Mandarin at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University, said of Tsai, “Most of the Taiwanese are really happy about [the election]. The Kuomintang [party] is not popular because of their pro-China stance.
"All the kids I work with do not like the KMP but like the Democratic Progressive Party. I hear the president got a few extra percentage points after a popular Taiwanese singer that was part of a K-Pop group was banned from China because she showed her nation’s flag. It caused outrage in Taiwan and the DPP candidate sucked up some support from that.”
Fowlke referred to the 16-year old Taiwanese singer and performer Chou Tzu-yu, member of the K-Pop group Twice. Mainland Chinese communities drew offense from a video clip of Tzu-yu waving small Korean and Taiwanese flags together.
Tzu-yu was pressured to post a video recording of a scripted apology, saying, “The two sides of the straight [between China and Taiwan] are one, and I have always felt proud to be Chinese. I fell extremely apologetic to my company and to Internet friends on both sides of the straight for the hurt that I have caused, and I also feel very guilty. I have decided that I will halt all of my current activities in China, and will go through some serious reflection. I apologize to everyone.”
The Global Times, a Chinese news source, wrote, “This was a complete victory by mainland Internet users over Taiwanese independence. The patriotic-mindedness of mainland Internet users is by no means ‘passing fancy.’”
President Tsai, in response to the occurrence, declared, “This incident has angered many Taiwanese people, regardless of their political affiliation. This particular incident will serve as a constant reminder to me about the importance of our country’s strength and unity to those outside our borders.”
The U.S. State Department recently announced, “We share with the Taiwan people a profound interest in the continuation of cross-straight peace and stability.” President Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party work to improve Taiwan and hope for goodwill which can be fostered with China while simultaneously catering to the nationalist sentiments of her supporters.