Lee Teng-hui (1923- )

Taiwanese right-wing politician, vice-president 1984-88, president 1988-2000, and Kuomintang (see Guomindang) party leader 1988-2001. The country's first island-born leader, he was viewed as a reforming technocrat. He was directly elected president in March 1996, defying Chinese opposition to the democratic contest.

He lost presidential elections in 2000 to the opposition leader, Chen Shui-bian. The following year he was replaced as leader of Kuomintang by Lien Chan, who supported reunification with China.

Born in Tamsui, Lee taught for two decades as professor of economics at the National Taiwan University before becoming mayor of Taipei in 1979. A protégé of Jiang Qing-guo, he became vice president of Taiwan in 1984 and succeeded to both the state presidency and Kuomintang leadership on Jiang's death in January 1988. He significantly accelerated the pace of liberalization and of incorporating local Taiwanese into the political sphere.