President of the Republic of China

The President is currently selected by a first past the post direct election of the areas administered by the Republic of China (i.e., Taiwan province, and Kinmen and Lienchiang counties of Fujian province) for a term of four years. Before 1991, the President was selected by the National Assembly of the Republic of China for a term of seven years.

Until the 1980s power in the Republic of China was personalized rather than institutionalized which meant that the power of the President depended largely on who occupied the office. For example, during the tenure of Yen Chia-kan, the office was largely ceremonial with real power in the hands of the Premier of the Republic of China, Chiang Ching-Kuo, and power shifted back to the presidency when Chiang became President.

After 2000, and the election of Chen Shui-bian to the Presidency, the Presidency and the Legislative Yuan were controlled by different parties which brought forth a number of latent constitutional issues such as the role of the legislature in appointing and dismissing a Premier, the right of the President to call a special session of the legislature, and who has the power to call a referendum. Most of these issues have been resolved through inter-party negotiations.

List of Presidents

List of Presidents

Name	Alignment	Start	End	Remark
Provisional Constitution
Sun Yat-Sen	KMT	1912	1913	Provisional government
Yuan Shikai		1913	1915	Declared himself Emperor in 1915, d. 1916
Warlord Government in Beijing¹
Li Yuan-Hung		1916	1917
Feng Kuo-Chang		1917	1918
Hsu Shih-Chang		1918	1922
Li Yuan-Hung		1922	1923
Tsao Kun		1923	1924
Tuan Chi-Jui		1924	1926
Chang Tso-Lin		1926	1928
Rival Government in Guangzhou
Sun Yat-Sen	KMT	1921	1925
Chairman of National Government (Chinese Civil War)²
Chiang Kai-Shek	KMT	1928	1932
Lin Sen	KMT	1932	1943
Chiang Kai-Shek	KMT	1943	1947
Constitution of 1947
Chiang Kai-Shek³	KMT	1947	1975
Yen Chia-kan	KMT	1975	1978
Chiang Ching-kuo	KMT	1978	1988
Lee Teng-hui	KMT	1988	2000	First Popular Election (1996)
Chen Shui-bian	DPP	2000	Present
(1) Warlord government and Yuan Shikai government after the 1913 Second revolution are regarded as illegitimate by the ROC.
(2) Chiang Kai-shek assumed role of "Commander-in-chief" from 1925-1928.
(3) Li Tsung-jen assumed role of "Acting President" following Chiang Kai-shek's resignation in January 1949, but Chiang reassumed presidency after the retreat to Taiwan in December 1949.

Elections

• ROC presidential election, 1996
• ROC presidential election, 2000
• ROC presidential election, 2004
• President of the People's Republic of China

External links

• Office of the President of the ROC

Referenced By