ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

‘On a tightrope’: How Taiwan’s president navigated the U.S. and China

Tsai Ing-wen during a rally in Taichung City, Taiwan, in September 2015. Quiet and low-key by nature, she had to work on learning to campaign, but eventually found her own style. | BILLY H.C. KWOK / THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Amy Chang Chien, Paul Mozur, John Liu and Chris Horton
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Apr 3, 2023

In an island renowned for boisterous politics, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is an improbable leader.

Described by those close to her as scholarly and bookish, Tsai is known for caution and understatement. In 2016, she ordered her staff to stay silent about a call with incoming President Donald Trump, even though it was the first time in decades a Taiwanese leader had spoken to a U.S. president or president-elect. (Trump was less discreet.)

When she rose to lead her party 15 years ago, she was known as a technocrat, not a transformative politician. "Many commentators view Tsai as a transitional and relatively weak leader,” a U.S. diplomatic cable assessing her place in Taiwanese politics noted at the time.