Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says she will run for re-election in 2020

 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told in an interview she will run for re-election as the island's leader in 2020, despite her flagging popularity and growing hostility from Beijing.

Tsai revealed her plans on Tuesday (Feb 19) in an exclusive interview aboard her presidential plane with CNN's Matt Rivers , saying she wanted to "complete" her vision for Taiwan.

"It's natural that any sitting president wants to do more for the country and wants to finish things on his or her agenda," Ms Tsai said.

Ms Tsai was the first woman to be elected leader of the self-governed democratic



island in 2016, sweeping to power amid promises to overhaul the economy and lessen Taiwan's reliance on mainland China.

But last November, her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered bruising losses during local elections, prompting her to resign as chairman of the party.

Since then, she has faced calls from senior members of her own party to not seek re-election. But despite the criticism, Ms Tsai told she is "confident" in her ability to win.

"This is something I have prepared for," Ms Tsai was quoted as saying.

"It's again another challenge. Being president, you're not short of challenges. At good times you have challenges of one sort, and in bad times you have challenges of another sort."