Lee Jye (; born 6 June 1940) is a former defense minister of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

Biography

He was born in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

on 6 June 1940, and fled to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

with family at the end of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. He originally joined the then ruling

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

in the early days of his military career, but was later expelled by the KMT, who lost power after the 2000 presidential election, for complying with President

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

's orders to remove all

Chiang Kai-shek statues Chiang Kai-shek statues ( or ) are statues of the late Republic of China (ROC) President Chiang Kai-shek. They are found almost everywhere in Taiwan, from parks to schools to military bases, and are usually made of a bronze alloy, although ...

from military bases. He was quoted saying "I'll obey the order of the party that is in power" and "if KMT holds power again, they can re-install the statues if they wish." He was the minister of the

Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (MND; ) is the ministry of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responsible for all defense and military affairs of Taiwan. The MND is headed by Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng. History The MND wa ...

, and was a Senior Admiral in the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN; ), also called the ROC Navy and colloquially the Taiwan Navy, is the maritime branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCAF). The service was formerly commonly just called the Chinese Navy during World Wa ...

when he retired.

References

1940 births Living people Republic of China politicians from Tianjin Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan Taiwanese Ministers of National Defense Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star Expelled members of the Kuomintang Chinese Civil War refugees Taiwanese people from Tianjin Republic of China Navy admirals {{Taiwan-KMT-politician-stub