Tsai Ing-wen sworn in as Taiwan’s first female president

Tsai Ing-wen has been sworn in as Taiwan's first female president and pledged to keep peace with its giant neighbour China, which has been watching for signs the self-ruled island's new leader will seek independence.

“The two governing parties across the [Taiwan] Strait must set aside the baggage of history and engage in positive dialogue for the benefit of the people on both sides,” said Ms Tsai, who said her priorities in office would be boosting the economy and ensuring security.

While the 59-year-old former law professor has taken a conciliatory stance with mainland China, she is likely to be less enthusiastic about forging closer ties across the strait than outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party which established modern Taiwan after Chiang Kai-shek fled there in 1949.

Ms Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won parliamentary and presidential elections by a landslide in January. China is wary of the DPP, which envisages the creation of "a sovereign and independent republic of Taiwan", something Beijing will never tolerate as it considers Taiwan part of China.

“Cross-strait relations have become an integral part of building regional peace and collective security,” she told thousands of people gathered outside the Ching-kuo Hall in Taiwan.

Some 700 dignitaries from 59 countries were among the 1,000 attendees at the ceremony in sweltering heat, including 22 from countries that recognise Taiwan and 37 that do not have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, the Taipei Times reported.

Relations improved

The KMT has run Taiwan since 1949, with the exception of 2000-2008 when the DPP was in charge. Under Mr Ma’s stewardship cross-strait relations have improved, culminating in a historic handshake between him and President Xi Jinping in

Singapore

in November last year.

Beijing wants Ms Tsai to officially back the “one China” policy that in theory leaves the status open to interpretation but which recognises Taiwan and the mainland as part of “one China”.

Ms Tsai has said she will maintain the status quo, but did not refer to “one China” in her speech.

In recent years the threat of force to take Taiwan back has eased, although in the run-up to the inauguration ceremony, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 31st Group Army based in Fujian Province, just across the strait, held military exercises, which Taiwanese military officials said were “not routine”.

Although the US switched official recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the US is committed to supporting Taiwan should China invade.

Its representative office in Taipei, the American Institute, issued a statement congratulating her and saying it looked forward to working with her.

In her speech, Ms Tsai pledged to abide by the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name, and promised to safeguard the island’s sovereignty and territory. At the end of the ceremony, Ms Tsai joined in the singing of the song Formosa, using the old name for the island.

She will have a job to do to fix the economy, which has been contracting for the past three quarters. The economy is heavily reliant on trade with the mainland, although trade fell in the first quarter of this year by 11.5 per cent.