Tsai Ing-wen

Opponents and critical academics claimed that Tsai's doctorate obtained in London in 1984 had documentary anomalies and sustained a lengthy controversy over the existence or authenticity of her thesis.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Directly implicated

Taiwan granted emergency authorisation to the locally developed Medigen vaccine on the basis of immunogenicity data while no Phase III efficacy trial results were yet available. Tsai publicly received the Medigen vaccine amid allegations of haste and vaccine nationalism.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Tsai stated that Taiwan had been close to reaching a direct agreement with BioNTech for COVID-19 vaccines but that China had intervened to block it, prompting controversy over responsibility for delays in supply.

State of the evidence

Alleged

Attribution

Personally implicated

Following a presidential trip, National Security Bureau personnel were implicated in an operation involving thousands of cartons of cigarettes brought in duty-free, triggering a scandal over discipline and favouritism within presidential security.

State of the evidence

Documented

Person targeted by the proceedings

presidential security service officers

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

The Tsai government introduced reductions to certain public-sector pension benefits and adjustments to make pension funds more sustainable. The reform triggered strong mobilisation among pensioners, civil servants, teachers and military personnel, including protests outside the presidential palace.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Amendments to the Labor Standards Act prompted simultaneous criticism from trade unions, which denounced weaker protections, and businesses, which considered some rules rigid and costly. The matter became one of the defining labour disputes of Tsai's first term.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Direct responsibility

In 2016, Tsai issued an official apology to Indigenous peoples for centuries of injustice. Activists subsequently challenged the policy for delineating traditional lands, particularly because it excluded some privately owned land, arguing that implementation did not match the ambition of the apology.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Phasing out nuclear power by 2025 was part of the platform on which Tsai had been elected. In November 2018, a referendum approved repeal of the legal provision imposing that deadline, dealing a political setback to an important element of her energy policy.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Following heavy DPP losses in the 2018 local elections, Tsai resigned as party chair and accepted political responsibility for the result.

State of the evidence

Documented

Legal status — source text

Not applicable

Attribution

Direct responsibility