The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state (polity), state#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international p ...
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 northea ...
Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater Chin ...
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 northe ...
parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...
plurality voting
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality (voting), plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects j ...
to a four-year term, with incumbents limited to serving two terms. The incumbent, Tsai Ing-wen, succeeded Ma Ying-jeou on May 20, 2016, to become the first female president in the history of Taiwan.
Qualifications
* The ''Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act'' states that a candidate for president or vice president must be a citizen of the Republic of China, at least 40 years old, and a resident of
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 northe ...
for a period of no less than 15 years with a physical presence of no less than 6 consecutive months.
* The following persons shall not be registered as candidates for the president:
**
Military personnel
Military personnel are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, air force, space force, and coast guard), rank ( officer, non-commissioned officer, ...
** Election officials
** People who hold foreign nationality or who hold residency of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...
** People who have restored their nationality or acquired their nationality by naturalization
Powers
The president is currently elected by a
plurality voting
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality (voting), plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects j ...
direct election
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...
of the areas administered by the Republic of China for a term of four years. Before 1991, the president was selected by the
National Assembly of the Republic of China
The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan after 1949, from 1947 to 2005. Along with the Control Yuan (upper house) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house), the Natio ...
for a term of six years.
The Constitution of the Republic of China names the president as head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces (formerly known as the National Revolutionary Army). The president is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace. The president must promulgate all laws and has no right to veto, but can approve or not the veto proposed by the Executive Yuan (Cabinet). Other powers of the president include granting amnesty, pardon or clemency, declaring martial law, and conferring honors and decorations.
The president may, by resolution of the Executive Yuan Council, issue emergency decrees and take all necessary measures to avert imminent danger affecting the security of the state or of the people or to cope with any serious financial or economic crisis. However, such decrees shall, within ten days of issuance, be presented to the
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel ...
for ratification. Should the Legislative Yuan withhold ratification, the said emergency decrees shall forthwith cease to be valid.
The president may, within ten days following passage by the Legislative Yuan of a no-confidence vote against the premier, declare the dissolution of the Legislative Yuan after consulting with its president. However, the president shall not dissolve the Legislative Yuan while martial law or an emergency decree is in effect. Following the dissolution of the Legislative Yuan, an election for legislators shall be held within 60 days.
The president can appoint senior advisors (), national policy advisors () and strategy advisors (), but they do not form a council.
The Constitution does not clearly define whether the president is more powerful than the premier, as it names the Executive Yuan (headed by the premier) as the "highest administrative authority" with oversight over domestic matters while giving the president powers as commander-in-chief of the military and authority over foreign affairs. Prior to his election as president in 1948, Chiang Kai-shek had insisted that he be premier under the new Constitution, while allowing the president (to which Chiang nominated
Hu Shih
Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberal ...
) be a mere figurehead. However, the National Assembly overwhelmingly supported Chiang as president and once in this position, Chiang continued to exercise vast prerogatives as leader and the premiership served to execute policy, not make it. Thus, 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 Premier Chiang Ching-Kuo, and power switched back to the presidency when Chiang became president. After President Lee Teng-hui succeeded Chiang as president in 1988, the power struggle within the KMT extended to the constitutional debate over the relationship between the president and the premier. The first three premiers under Lee,
Yu Kuo-hwa
Yu Kuo-hwa () (January 10, 1914 – October 4, 2000) was the Premier of the Republic of China from 1984 to 1989.
Biography
He was born on 10 January 1914 in Fenghua, Ningbo, Zhejiang, Republic of China, China. He studied for degrees at Harvard ...
, Lee Huan, and Hau Pei-tsun were mainlanders who had initially opposed Lee's ascension to power. The appointment of Lee and Hau were compromises by President Lee to placate conservatives in the KMT. The subsequent appointment of the first native Taiwanese premier Lien Chan was taken as a sign of Lee's consolidation of power. Moreover, during this time, the power of the premier to approve the president's appointments and the power of the Legislative Yuan to confirm the president's choice of premier was removed establishing the president as the more powerful position of the two.
After the 2000 election of Chen Shui-bian as president, 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.
Succession
The
Constitution of the Republic of China
The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, ...
gives a short list of persons who will succeed to the presidency if the office were to fall vacant. According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, Article 2:
As no president of the Executive Yuan (also known as the premier) has ever succeeded to the presidency under these provisions (or their predecessors, under Article 49), it is untested whether, should the office of the premier be vacant as well, whether, pursuant to the Additional Articles, Article 3, the vice president of the Executive Yuan (vice premier), who would be acting premier, would act as president. There is currently no constitutional provision for a succession list beyond the possibility that the vice president of the Executive Yuan might succeed to the presidency.
Assuming that the vice president of the Executive Yuan would be third in line for the presidency, the current line of succession is:
# Lai Ching-te, Vice President of the Republic of China.
# Su Tseng-chang, President of the Executive Yuan.
# Shen Jong-chin, Vice President of the Executive Yuan.
Presidential succession has occurred three times under the 1947 Constitution:
#President Chiang Kai-shek declared incapacity on 21 January 1949 amid several Communist victories in 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 main ...
and was replaced by Vice President Li Tsung-jen as the acting president. However, Chiang continued to wield authority as the director-general of the
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 ...
and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Li Tsung-jen lost the ensuing power struggle and fled to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
in November 1949. Chiang evacuated with the government to Taiwan on 10 December 1949 and resumed his duties as the president on 1 March 1950.
#President Chiang Kai-shek died on 5 April 1975 and was replaced by Vice President Yen Chia-kan, who served out the remainder of the term.
#President Chiang Ching-kuo died on 13 January 1988 and was replaced by Vice President Lee Teng-hui, who served out the remainder of the term and won two more terms on his own right.
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state (polity), state#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international p ...
. In other nations, she is formally a private citizen, although even in these cases, travel usually meets with strong objections from the People's Republic of China.
The president of ROC has traveled several times to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, formally in transit to and from Central America, where a number of countries do recognize the ROC. This system allows the president to visit the United States without the US State Department having to issue a visa. During these trips, the president is not formally treated as a head of state, does not meet US government officials in their official capacities and does not visit Washington, D.C. However, in these visits, the ROC president invariably meets with staff members from the US government, although these visits are with lower-ranking officials in non-governmental surroundings.
In the area of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, the ROC president was able to arrange visits in the early 1990s which were formally private tourist visits, however these have become increasingly infrequent as a result of PRC pressure.
At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit, the ROC president is forbidden from attending personally and must send a special envoy to represent him or her at the event.
However, on 2 December 2016, US President-elect
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
accepted a congratulatory telephone call from the ROC president, a clear break from prior protocol.
The Government of the People's Republic of China uses the terms Leader of the Taiwan Area, Leader of the Taiwan Region () and Leader of the Taiwanese Authorities () to describe the head of state 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 northea ...
(ROC) in
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 northe ...
. These terms are used by PRC media to reflect the PRC's official stance of not recognizing the legitimacy of the ROC.
The PRC media does not use the terms ''"President of Taiwan"'' nor ''"President of the Republic of China"'', which could be inferred as implying recognition of Taiwan as a country, or of Two Chinas. Hence, the term ''"Leader of the Taiwan Area"'' is used- with "Area" to show that Taiwan is not a country; while "Leader" does not equal "President". According to criteria set by the authorities in Beijing, media in mainland China generally are not allowed to use terms related to the Republic of China to describe the Taiwan authorities. But if the official title cannot be avoided in a news article, quotation marks would be used around terms for all official ROC positions and organizations, e.g. "President of the Republic of China"; "Presidential Office Building" to imply non-recognition. For other countries without official diplomatic ties, terms such as Taiwan's president have been used.
Secretary-general to the president
The secretary-general to the president is the highest-ranking official in the Office of the President and supervises the staff of the office. The current secretary-general is David Lee.
Elections
History
Taiwan was previously led by the
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
checks
Check or cheque, may refer to:
Places
* Check, Virginia
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film
* ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld''
Games and sports
* Check (chess), a thr ...
on the president by the National Assembly. However, Yuan soon began to assert dictatorial power, ignoring the National Assembly and later abolishing it altogether. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself
Emperor of China
''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...
in a largely unpopular move and was forced to retract his declaration shortly before his death in 1916.
With Yuan Shikai's death the Warlord Era began. Vice President Li Yuanhong succeeded Yuan as president and attempted to reassert the constitutional government, but was soon forced to resign by military strongmen. The presidency, though leading an internationally recognized government, was thereafter to be headed by a series of prominent warlords. This presidency ended in 1928 when the Northern Expedition, led by the
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 ...
(KMT), succeeded in conquering North China.
Sun Yat-sen established a rival (military, not constitutional) government in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...
in 1917 and took the title of "Generalissimo of the Military Government" (). He was ousted in 1918 but returned again to Guangzhou in 1921. Claiming to restore the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, he summoned the members of the original parliament to elect him as president, but since there lacked a quorum, he took the title of "Extraordinary President" (). Sun, again expelled from Guangzhou in 1922, returned in 1923 to take the title of "Generalissimo of the Military Government." Sun died in 1925 with no clear successor and leadership of the government, now named the
National Government A national government is the government of a nation.
National government or
National Government may also refer to:
* Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions
* Federal governme ...
, rested in a series of Leninist-style dual party and state committees, the most powerful of which was the policy-making Central Executive Committee of the
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 ...
. The government was organized into five branches, with the Executive Yuan, headed by the premier, holding primary administrative authority. The "Chairman of the National Government," though not given specific presidential powers, took on the functions of a ''de facto'' head of state and its official English translation was "President of the National Government of the Republic of China". This form of government under the KMT lasted through the Northern Expedition, which moved the capital to Nanjing and gave the National Government domestic control and foreign recognition, and the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...
, during which the Japanese established a puppet "Reorganized" National Government with almost the identical organizational structure, until the promulgation of a new Constitution in 1947.
Following the Chinese victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek was restored in Nanjing and the KMT set out to enact a liberal democratic constitution in line with the last stage of Sun Yat-sen's three stages of national development. The new
Constitution of the Republic of China
The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, ...
, promulgated on 25 December 1947, established a five-branch government with the office of president () as head of state. On 20 May 1948, Chiang Kai-shek was formally elected by the National Assembly to be the first term president.
After the KMT lost Mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the government was evacuated to Taiwan, where the term limits for the president specified in the 1947 constitution were suspended after 1960. In 1954, as the term of the first National Assembly were about to expire, the Judicial Yuan ruled that the expired seats of the National Assembly would continue in power until the respective delegate region elections could be held. This largely froze the membership of the National Assembly mainland delegates and prevented local Taiwanese from widespread legislative and assembly participation in the expired mainland seats until the early 1970s. The members of the National Assembly continued in their office until 1991, and continued to elect Chiang Kai-shek as president until his death in 1975.
Presidents were elected by the National Assembly until the first direct presidential election in 1996, while the term length was shortened from six to four years.
File:1911年中华民国临时大总统选举1.jpg, Official results of the election announcing Sun's election on November 10, 1911.
File:West_Garden_Hall,_Nanjing,_Aug_2016.jpg, The West Garden Hall in Presidential Palace, Nanjing was the office of the Provisional President in 1912.
File:原段祺瑞执政府.jpg, After Yuan Shikai's
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...
housed the office of the Chairman of the National Government of the ROC in 1927–1937.
File:Tzu-chao Building.jpg, The Presidential Building in Presidential Palace, Nanjing was the office of the President of ROC after the 1947 Chinese Constitution, until the Government of the ROC fled to Taiwan in 1949.
Zhang Zhang may refer to:
Chinese culture, etc.
* Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname
** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname
* Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu
* Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan
* ...
Lee
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
" fontsize:10
bar:Chen
from: 20/05/2000 till: 20/05/2008 color:dpp-pres text:" Chen" fontsize:10
bar:Ma
from: 20/05/2008 till: 20/05/2016 color:kmt-pres text:" Ma" fontsize:10
bar:Tsai
from: 20/05/2016 till: end color:dpp-pres text:" Tsai" fontsize:10
* Cen Chunxuan was the president of the southern military government 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 northea ...
from 1913 to 1921.
; 1st Provisional President and Presidents after the 1947 Constitution
File:孙中山肖像.jpg, Sun Yat-sen 1st Provisional President (served: 1912)
File:蔣中正總統玉照.png, 1st: Chiang Kai-shek 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th terms (served: 1948–1975)
File:President Yen Chia-kan.png, 2nd: Yen Chia-kan remaining 5th term (served: 1975–1978)
File:第7任總統蔣經國先生玉照.jpg, 3rd: Chiang Ching-kuo 6th & 7th terms (served: 1978–1988)
File:總統李登輝先生玉照 (國民大會實錄).jpg, 4th: Lee Teng-hui remaining 7th, 8th, & 9th terms (served: 1988–2000)
File:總統陳水扁先生玉照 (國民大會實錄).jpg, 5th: Chen Shui-bian 10th & 11th terms (served: 2000–2008)
File:中華民國第12、13任總統馬英九先生官方肖像照.jpg, 6th: Ma Ying-jeou 12th & 13th terms (served: 2008–2016)
File:蔡英文官方元首肖像照.png, 7th: Tsai Ing-wen 14th & 15th terms (serving: 2016–present)
See also
*
Elections in Taiwan
There are eleven types of elections in Taiwan which, since 2012, have been unified into general and local elections, each held every four years, typically in January and November respectively. There may also be by-elections. Electoral systems incl ...
Premier of the Republic of China
The Premier of the Republic of China, officially the President of the Executive Yuan (Chinese: 行政院院長), is the head of the government of the Republic of China of Taiwan and leader of the Executive Yuan. The premier is nominally the p ...
Republic of China Presidential Museum
The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Artifacts Museum () is a museum located in Academia Historica, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. The museum's collection includes collections and archives belonging to previous Presid ...