TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Veteran French journalist Arnaud Vaulerin has published a new book titled "Taiwan, the President, and the War."

Vaulerin told CNA that President Tsai Ing-Wen (蔡英文) has opened up the country and made Taiwan an international issue over the past eight years. He added she has conveyed messages of Taiwan's efficiency, diversity, and stability to the world, CNA reported.

Arnaud Vaulerin is the Asia correspondent for France's "Liberation" newspaper. His latest book introduces Taiwan's president and the nation under her leadership to French readers.

During his interview with CNA, Vaulerin said that his interest in President Tsai and the situation in the Taiwan Strait began when he was stationed in Japan in 2016. It was just before the presidential election brought Tsai to power, he explained.

Vaulerin was intrigued by the fact that in a region characterized by male-dominated politics, a female president like Tsai could lead Taiwan in the face of China's all-male leadership. He began closely monitoring the Taiwan Strait situation and made multiple visits to Taiwan to write reports.

His interest in Taiwan deepened in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. He realized that the conflict would raise concerns about Taiwan.

He decided to focus more on Taiwan's affairs and visited Kinmen in August 2022. His visit followed China’s large-scale military exercises.

China responded to the decision of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan in August 2022 with military drills around the island. The scale of the exercises was unprecedented.

It was against this background that Vaulerin planned to write his book about Taiwan. After discussions with his publisher, he decided to focus on President Tsai.

He considered Tsai an important but relatively unknown figure to foreign readers. His book also examines Taiwan's diplomatic, defense, and economic transformations over the past decade.

Vaulerin said Tsai's most important achievement is that she succeeded in making Taiwan an international issue. It used to be seen as an internal conflict among Chinese people but thanks to her, Taiwan is now an international issue involving trade, strategy, and more, he said.

Vaulerin posited that during Tsai's tenure, Taiwan had conveyed four key messages to the world. First, Taiwan intends to maintain the status quo, he said. Despite the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s accusation that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) creates problems, “everyone can see that it's Beijing that's trying to change the status quo through military threats,” he said.

Second, even in difficult circumstances, Taiwan can manage to pull through. Despite the World Health Organization (WHO)’s decision to exclude Taiwan, the country became a model for epidemic prevention without city lockdowns.

Third, he said Tsai’s government opened the road to Europe. Finally, Tsai shared Taiwan’s identity with the international community and showed that besides its Chinese heritage, Taiwan has a unique identity formed by indigenous peoples, early immigrants, and the history of European and Japanese colonialism.

In his book, he describes Tsai as unique in the world of politics. He said, “Tsai Ing-wen is somewhat unassuming and lacks the charisma seen in Aung San Suu Kyi or Hillary Clinton.”

She seems to live alone with her cat and dog, standing up to men in suits from the CCP, he said. "It’s quite amazing", he added.