Tsai resumes chairmanship of DPP

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took up leadership of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) again on Wednesday, after her inauguration earlier in the day for a second four-year presidential term.

Following a brief and simple presidential swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address in the morning, Tsai went to the DPP headquarters where she accepted the seal of office from the party's incumbent Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).

During the handover ceremony, Tsai laid out three main goals for the DPP, saying it must provide more opportunities for young people, continue to cultivate social media talent, and encourage membership of activists who can help bring about social changes in the party.

Tsai had stepped down as DPP chairwoman in November 2018, shortly after her party suffered a crushing defeat in the local government elections.

However, following her election in January this year to a second presidential term, Tsai was asked by Cho to resume leadership of the party in accordance with the DPP charter.

The party charter stipulates that when a DPP member is elected president of Taiwan, that person will become the ex-officio party chairperson, effective from the day of inauguration.

In January, after Tsai won the presidential election, local media raised the question of whether her DPP chairmanship would give her control of the executive and legislative branches of government, given that her party holds a majority in the Legislature with 61 of the 113 seats.

In response to reporters' questions on the issue, Tsai said the chairmanship would be decided based on the DPP charter.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the DPP also announced a minor change to its executive, naming Tsai's presidential campaign manager Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀) as its secretary-general.

Incumbent deputy secretaries-general Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Sidney Lin (林鶴明) and Kao Shing-hsueh (高幸雪) will continue to serve in that position, the party said.