Lee Teng-hui Even Lee Teng-hui's worst enemies grudgingly concede that first democratically elected president of the Republic of Ch...
Lee Teng-hui
Even Lee Teng-hui's worst enemies grudgingly concede that first democratically elected president of the Republic of China (1988-2000) was one smart cookie. After all, only the most clever of men could possibly rise to the highest office in the land (a position once held by Chiang Kei-shek), all the while holding political views diametrically opposed to the very party he led. Taiwanses-born Lee, a Hakka, had been a KMT apparatchik since the early 1970s. After taking over the presidency on the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1988, Lee skilfully consolidated his power base by stalwartly defending the KMT party line while simultaneously continuing the democratisation of Taiwan which was started by his predecessor. During his term, Lee was a supporter of the Taiwanese localisation movement, which sought to restore the identity of Taiwan as more than just an appendage of Mainland China. While president, many suspected that Lee was a secret supporter of Taiwan independence. After the KMT loss in 2000 (a loss which many still feel was due in part to Lee's having sown the seeds of discord within his own party), Lee was expelled from the KMT, immediately becoming the spiritual leader of the staunchly pro-Taiwan-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union party.
Chen Shui-blan
Ma Ying-jeou
Chen Shui-blan
Loved by some and despised by others, the ROC's current president Chen Shui-bian (or A-bian, as he's colloquially referred) was elected in 2000. His election ended more than 50 years of KMT rule in Taiwan, and though previously a strong supporter of Taiwanese independence, Chien's current official stance seems to be one of conciliation towards both sides of the issue. A lawyer by trade (Chen was one the defence lawyers following the crackdown on democracy activists in what would later be called 'the Kaohsiung incident'), Chen's tenure as mayor of Taipei in the mid-90s made him the DPP;s most prominent figure in the decade following the lifting of martial law. (Chen would lose his mayorship in 1998, only to redeem his political career in a big way in the presidential election of 2000). Reelected by the narrowest of margins in 2004, Chen's second term as ROC president has been marked by scandals involving family members and island-wide protests that have widely gridlocked the government. Constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in 2008, it is likely that Chen, like his predecessor Lee Teng-hui, will become an elder statesmen of sorts.
Ma Ying-jeou
Current KMT chairman and former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou is widely considered the front-runner for the 2008 presidential election. Though Ma's squeaky-lean image has been tarnished in recent years due to a number of scandals, Ma has defended his innocence and maintained his intention to run for the presidency in 2008. Whether Ma will be able to withstand the veritable typhoon of mudslinging that's part and parcel of Taiwan's current political environment with his image intact still remains to be seen; nonetheless, the charismatic former justice minister's image looms large over Taiwan's future political landscape.
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