Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who was born on Jan. 15, 1923, in the farming community of Sanshi Village, Taihoku Prefecture — now New Taipei City’s Sanzhi District (三芝) — during the Japanese colonial era, and rose to become mayor of Taipei and not only the Republic of China’s (ROC) first Taiwan-born president, but its first directly elected one as well.
Educated in the Japanese educational system of the time, Lee, who spoke Japanese, Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Mandarin and English, won a scholarship to Kyoto Imperial University, but his studies were interrupted by World War II.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from National Taiwan University (NTU) in 1948, and appeared headed for an academic or civil service career, going on to earn a master’s degree from Iowa State University in 1953 and a doctorate from Cornell University in 1968.
Photo courtesy of Academia Historica
He worked for the US-sponsored Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction and also taught at NTU and National Chengchi University.
After joining the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1971, the following year he gained his first government appointment, as a minister without portfolio with responsibility for agriculture.
He served in that position until June 1978, when he was appointed mayor of Taipei, a post he held until December 1981, when he became governor of the then-Taiwan Provincial Government, serving until 1984, when he became vice president of the ROC.
Photo courtesy of Academia Historica
He succeeded president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), who died on Jan. 13, 1988, although the move was opposed by many Mainlanders within the KMT, including Chiang Kai-shek’s widow, Soong Mayling (宋美齡), who returned from the US to help other conservative Mainlanders to sideline Lee as president and block his accession to the KMT chairmanship.
However, Lee was deft enough to secure enough support to stay in office.
In 1991, he ended the Period of National Mobilization against Communist Rebellion and pushed for the re-election of the “1,000 year” National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan, whose members had served since 1948.
Photo courtesy of Academia Historica
He also oversaw a major reshuffle of the Executive Yuan.
In 1995, he became the first ROC president to publicly apologize for the 228 Incident, and also made waves by returning to Cornell University to deliver a speech.
The following year he became the first directly elected president after the Third Addition to the Constitution established that the nation’s president and vice president should be directly elected.
Photo courtesy of Academia Historica
His unparalleled contributions to democratizing the nation and his election that year earned him the nickname “Mr Democracy” from Newsweek magazine.
During his time as president and as KMT leader he favored highlighting Taiwan’s sovereignty and right to self-determination, and also pushed his special state-to-state model of cross-strait relations.
His relationship with the Democratic Progressive Party was highlighted by both rivalry and camaraderie, which is perhaps best exemplified by his collaboration with then-DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) to freeze the Taiwan Provincial Government in 1997.
He was blamed by many hardliners in the KMT for the party’s loss of the presidency in 2000 to the DPP’s Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), which eventually led to his being expelled from the party.
In 2004, Lee supported Chen’s re-election and in 2012 and 2016 stumped for Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in her bids to become president.
Today, members of the DPP and pro-independence advocates see Lee as a visionary on the nation’s path to democracy and its efforts to achieve self-determination.
Democracy advocate Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), 96, said there were two contradictory identities in Lee — one was his status as a Taiwanese and the other was his position as KMT chairman.
The last time he saw Lee was at the founding of the Formosa Alliance in Kaohsiung, Peng said.
Lee made great contributions during Taiwan’s period of economic, political, cultural and social transformation, Peng said, adding that he believes Lee will always have an important position in Taiwan’s history.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and Diane Baker
This story has been corrected since it was first published.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS