Tsai Ing-wen sworn in as Taiwan's first female president
ROC Central News Agency
2016/05/20 10:52:33
Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was inaugurated Friday as the Republic of China's first female president and only the second non-Kuomintang (KMT) leader in the country's history.
Tsai, 59, was sworn in for a four-year term as president at an inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office, during which the national anthem was sung.
The swearing-in ceremony was also attended by outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and outgoing Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) of the KMT.
Dressed in a beige jacket and black trousers, Tsai sang the entire national anthem before she was sworn in.
At the ceremony, the great seal of the nation was handed over to Tsai by Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) of the DPP, symbolizing her assumption of office as head of state.
Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) was also sworn in as vice president, after which he and Tsai walked Ma and Wu out of the Presidential Office.
Shortly after the ceremony, Tsai's first official duty was to sign a document to officially appoint Lin Chuan (林全) as premier, or head of the Cabinet, Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤) as the secretary-general of the Presidential Office, and Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) as secretary-general of the National Security Council.
It is the second time that the pro-independence DPP has come to power in Taiwan, and this time around it also holds a majority of 68 seats of the 113-member Legislature.
During the previous DPP administration under Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from 2000-2008, the KMT was the majority party in the Legislature.
Tsai, DPP chairwoman and a former vice premier, won 56 percent of the votes in the presidential election on January 16. She succeeds Ma, who was first elected in 2008 and served two four-year terms.
(By Tai Ya-chen, Sophia Yeh, Jay Chen and Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/pc
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