President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was listed eighth in a list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders in Fortune magazine’s latest annual ranking.
The list was released on Thursday, the New York-based business magazine’s fourth annual ranking of world leaders.
The section introducing the Taiwanese president said that Tsai captured headlines in December last year when she telephoned then-US president-elect Donald Trump, the first known call between Taiwanese and US leaders since 1979.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-che, Taipei Times
That year, Washington withdrew diplomatic recognition from Taipei in favor of Beijing.
“It was a bold move for Taiwan’s first female president, who is steering a cautious path between the US and China,” Fortune said.
Describing Tsai as sympathetic to independence, the magazine said that when Beijing tried to punish Taiwan after her election victory in January last year by restricting the number of Chinese visiting the nation, she wooed tourists from Southeast Asia and sparked a tourism boom.
Tsai has also pushed economic reforms, including shortening the workweek to five days from six, it added.
The list covers government, philanthropy, business and the arts, and focuses on “men and women who are transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same,” Fortune said.
Other leaders on the list include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ranked 10th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at 31st, and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, 45th.
Heading the list are Theo Epstein, president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, last year’s World Series champions; Jack Ma (馬雲), executive chairman of China-based e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴); and Pope Francis.
In April last year, Time magazine listed Tsai among the 100 most influential people in the world that year.
In June of the same year, she was ranked the 17th-most powerful woman in the world by US magazine Forbes.
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