[9] During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of these posts discouraged Taiwanese citizens from performing April Fools' Day pranks which involved false rumours.

[11] A new Twitter hashtag – #ThisAttackComeFromTaiwan – aims to welcome overseas visitors to Taiwan after the pandemic, and includes images of Taiwanese landscapes, bubble tea, and Tsai's cats.

[15] Shortly after Tsai was elected as president in 2016, she was criticised for being a single woman – and therefore 'emotional' and 'erratic' – in a newspaper article published by China's state news agency Xinhua.

[16] The article, written by Wang Weixing[17] a military officer in the PLA, provoked an outcry for its sexist views,[17] and was quickly withdrawn.

[18] Taiwanese activist magazine New Bloom describes her as 'an unorthodox politician ... a female academic who loves cats and supports gay rights'.

[19] Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times observes that Tsai is one of two cat-lovers who have recently risen to power – the other being Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party.

[20] In June 2016, while in Miami, Tsai met Taiwanese professional baseball pitcher Wei-Yin Chen, whose gifts to her included feeding bowls for each of the two cats and three adopted dogs.

[32] Tham also cites another cartoonist, Wei Tsung-cheng, who created Conqueror of the Seas, which portrays a young girl named Ing who grows up on a patriarchal island-nation; and overthrows oppressive forces which terrorise her people.

[32] Celebrating Tsai's election victory, the national postal agency, Chunghua Post, created a special stamp issue.

It featured people from all walks of life, along with a dog and a cat; and drew attention to issues of equality and cultural diversity in Taiwan.

[39] Tsai appeared wearing a pair of pink cat ears in a DPP campaign rally advertisement, which was posted on social media by Freddy Lim, frontman of death metal band Chthonic, and also himself a politician.

[43] However, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's China correspondent Bill Birtles says that Tsai's "cute" campaign style belies a much harder edge.

[39] Writing for New Bloom, Brian Hioe suggested at least one was following Tsai's lead; highlighting main presidential rival Han Kuo-yu, who appeared with imagery of his pet Shiba Inu.