Washington Looking Forward to Working With Taiwan's First Female President

The United States is looking forward to working with the new Taiwanese administration to strengthen the Washington-Taipei ties, the American Institute in Taiwan said Friday after the new president was sworn in.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, Tsai Ing-wen, the chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), became the first woman to hold the post.

"The United States congratulates President Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration as Taiwan’s fourth democratically elected president… We look forward to working with the new administration, as well as with all of Taiwan’s political parties and civil society groups, to further strengthen the ties between the people of the United States and Taiwan," the institute, an organization established under the auspices of the US government, said.

On January 16, Tsai won the presidential elections in Taiwan securing over 56 percent of the vote. Tsai has pledged to maintain Taiwan’s status quo of de-facto independence, further straining Beijing-Taipei ties.

Taiwan became self-governed in the 1940s after a civil war, but China still considers it to be part of its territory. The dispute arose after nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) forces retreated to the island of Taiwan, as the Communist forces gained control of mainland China, in 1949.