President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文/CNA file photo)

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been ranked as the 40th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine in its annual list of the world's 100 most powerful women released Dec. 4.

This was the first time in three years that Tsai fell out of the top 20, after ranking 17th on the list in 2016 when she took office and 15th in 2017.

Describing Tsai as the first female leader of Taiwan, the magazine noted she had only 14 months left to win back voters in 2020 after her ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was defeated by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in local government elections in November.

Taiwan will hold its next presidential election in early 2020.

"She has vowed to make Taiwan an indispensable member of the world by stimulating the economy with initiatives in biotech, defense and green energy," her profile reads on the Forbes list.

The other Asian female political leaders included in the list were Carrie Lam of Hong Kong, ranked 32nd, Peng Liyuan of China, ranked 65th, and Sri Mulyani Indrawati of Indonesia, ranked 78th, respectively.

For the eighth consecutive year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was ranked first on the list of the most powerful women in the world, followed by British Prime Minister Theresa May, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde from France, and General Motors CEO Mary Barra from the United States, in that order.

The list, which was first released in 2004, ranks the women by "money, media momentum, spheres of influence and impact."

(By Ko Lin)
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