Lee Teng-hui

Lee Teng-hui
李登輝
Presidential portrait
4th President of the Republic of China
In office 13 January 1988 – 20 May 2000
Premier	See list Yu Kuo-hwa Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun Lien Chan Vincent Siew
Vice President	Lee Yuan-tsu Lien Chan
Preceded by	Chiang Ching-kuo
Succeeded by	Chen Shui-bian
5th Vice President of the Republic of China
In office 20 May 1984 – 13 January 1988
President	Chiang Ching-kuo
Preceded by	Hsieh Tung-min
Succeeded by	Lee Yuan-tsu
2nd Chairman of the Kuomintang
In office 27 July 1988 – 24 March 2000 Acting: 13 January 1988 – 27 July 1988
Preceded by	Chiang Ching-kuo
Succeeded by	Lien Chan
11th Chairman of Taiwan Provincial Government
In office 5 December 1981 – 20 May 1984
President	Chiang Ching-kuo
Preceded by	Lin Yang-kang
Succeeded by	Liu Chao-tien (acting) Chiu Chuang-huan
4th Mayor of Taipei
In office 9 June 1978 – 5 December 1981
Preceded by	Lin Yang-kang
Succeeded by	Shao En-hsin (邵恩新)
Minister without Portfolio
In office 2 June 1972 – 1 June 1978
Premier	Chiang Ching-kuo
Personal details
Born	(1923-01-15)15 January 1923 Sanshi, Taihoku, Taiwan
Died	30 July 2020(2020-07-30) (aged 97) Beitou, Taipei, Taiwan
Resting place	Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery
Citizenship	Japan (until 1945)[1] Republic of China (from 1945)
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (1946–1948) Kuomintang (1971–2001) Independent (after 2002)
Spouse	Tseng Wen-hui ​ (m. 1949)​
Children	3
Education	Kyoto Imperial University (BEc) National Taiwan University (BS) Iowa State University (MA) Cornell University (PhD)
Profession	Agriculturist
Military service
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Branch/service	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1944–1945
Rank	Second lieutenant
Battles/wars	Second World War Pacific theatre
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	李登輝
Simplified Chinese	李登辉
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Dēnghuī Bopomofo ㄌㄧˇ ㄉㄥ ㄏㄨㄟ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Lii Denghuei Wade–Giles Li3 Têng1-hui1 Tongyong Pinyin Lǐ Denghuei MPS2 Lǐ Dēng-huēi IPA [lì tə́ŋ.xwéɪ] Hakka Romanization Lí Tên-Fî Yue: Cantonese Jyutping lei5 dang1fai1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Lí Teng-hui Tâi-lô Lí Ting-hui
Japanese name
Kanji	岩里政男
Kana	いわさと まさお
Transcriptions Romanization Iwasato Masao

Lee Teng-hui (Chinese: 李登輝; pinyin: Lǐ Dēnghuī; 15 January 1923 – 30 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician, economist, and agronomist who served as the president of the Republic of China and chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected, and the first to be directly elected.

Born in Taihoku Prefecture, Lee was raised under Japanese rule. He was educated at Kyoto Imperial University and served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II before graduating from National Taiwan University. He then studied agricultural economics in the United States, where he earned his doctorate from Cornell University in 1968, beginning a career as an economics professor. As a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he was appointed Mayor of Taipei in 1978 and became governor of Taiwan Province in 1981 under President Chiang Ching-kuo. Lee succeeded Chiang as president after Chiang's death in 1988.

During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law in Taiwan and led reforms to democratize the Republic of China. He was an advocate of the Taiwanese localization movement, sought to establish greater international recognition of the country, and has been credited as the president who completed Taiwan's democratic transition. After leaving office, he remained active in Taiwanese politics as a major influence on the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU),^[2] and recruited for the party in the past.^[3] After Lee campaigned for TSU candidates in the 2001 Taiwanese legislative election, he was expelled by the KMT.^[4] His post-presidency was also marked by efforts to maintain greater relations between Taiwan and Japan.