Taipei (CNN) Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says 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 Tuesday in an exclusive interview with CNN's Matt Rivers while aboard her presidential plane, 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," Tsai said.

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 two years later, her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered bruising losses during local elections in 2018, prompting her to resign as chairwoman of the party. Across the island, her party lost by almost 10% of the vote.

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