Lee Teng-hui

Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and agriculturist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) 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. During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC, advocated the Taiwanese localization movement, and led an ambitious foreign policy agenda to gain allies around the world. Nicknamed "Mr. Democracy", Lee was credited as the president who completed Taiwan's democratic transition. After leaving office, he remained active in Taiwanese politics. Lee was considered the "spiritual leader" of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), and recruited for the party in the past. After Lee campaigned for TSU candidates in the 2001 Taiwanese legislative election, he was expelled by the KMT. Other activities that Lee engaged in included maintaining relations with former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Japan. Early life and education Lee was born in the rural farming community of Sanshi Village, Taihoku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan. He was of Yongding, Tingzhou Hakka descent. As a child, he often dreamed of traveling abroad, and became an avid stamp collector. Growing up under Japanese colonial rule, he developed a strong interest in Japan. His father was a middle-level Japanese police aide, and his elder brother, Lee Teng-chin (李登欽), who was also known as in Japanese, joined the colony's police academy and soon volunteered for the Imperial Japanese Navy and died in Manila. Lee—one of only four Taiwanese students in his class at , the only higher school (preparatory schools for the Imperial Universities) in Japanese Taiwan—graduated with honors and was given a scholarship to Japan's Kyoto Imperial University.