TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan has inaugurated its first female president.
Tsai Ing-wen will confront major challenges in her new role, including navigating what seem certain to be increasingly fractious relations with Beijing and rejuvenating the island’s flagging economy.
Tsai took the oath of office at the Presidential Office Building in the capital Taipei before a national flag and portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China that relocated to Taiwan in 1949 as the communists swept to power on the Chinese mainland.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has responded to Tsai’s election by intensifying pressure on the island with military exercises, diplomatic moves and cross-border deportations.
At home, Tsai faces an economy that has fallen into a recession as exports have dropped due to sluggish demand.