WikipediaExtracts:Lee Teng-hui
Extracted from Wikipedia --
Lee Teng-hui (Chinese: 李登輝; pinyin: Lǐ Dēnghuī; 15 January 1923 – 30 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth 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.
Before entering politics, Lee was an agricultural scientist who earned a master's degree from Iowa State University and a PhD from Cornell University in the United States. During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC, advocated the Taiwanese localization movement, and initiated foreign policy agenda to gain allies all over the world. 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.
