Lee Teng-hui

30-second overview: An agricultural economics PhD born during the Japanese colonial era, raised speaking Japanese, who ultimately became the first democratic leader in the Chinese-speaking world. He spent twelve years peacefully transforming Taiwan from an authoritarian regime to a democracy — but the price was triggering the Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis and being labeled the "godfather of black gold" politics.

From Iwasato Masao to Lee Teng-hui

On the afternoon of June 9, 1995, at Cornell University's Olin Lecture Hall, a 72-year-old man delivered a speech in English titled "Always in My Heart." The audience included American political and academic figures; CNN was broadcasting live; the world was watching.

But few people knew that this man's first language was actually Japanese. His birth name was Iwasato Masao (岩里政男), a farm boy born in 1923 during Japanese-ruled Taiwan. He grew up speaking Japanese, received a Japanese education, and even won a scholarship to Kyoto Imperial University — in that era, an almost impossible achievement for a Taiwanese person.

Did you know?
Lee Teng-hui was one of the extremely few native Taiwanese students to receive a scholarship to a Japanese imperial university. He chose agricultural economics because he saw the social injustice of farmers laboring with no commensurate harvest.

But war changed everything. In 1945, Japan was defeated, Taiwan "returned" to Chinese rule, and Iwasato Masao was forced to leave Kyoto Imperial University and return to a Mandarin-speaking Taiwan. From that point on, he became Lee Teng-hui.

That sense of a torn identity would follow him for the rest of his life.

The Scholar's Political Ambition

When Lee Teng-hui returned to Taiwan in 1968 with an agricultural economics doctorate from Cornell University, no one imagined this scholar would change Taiwan's history. He dutifully returned to work at the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, researching Taiwan's agricultural policy, publishing papers, serving as a standard technocrat.

The turning point came in 1972.

That year, Chiang Ching-kuo took over as Premier, and he set his sights on this 49-year-old agricultural expert. Lee Teng-hui was recruited as a political minister (政務委員), becoming the youngest cabinet member in the Chiang Ching-kuo administration. From that moment, Lee Teng-hui's scholarly career was over; he had set foot on a political path with no return.

But this was not accidental. Chiang Ching-kuo was pushing a "Taiwanization" policy and needed capable, educated native Taiwanese elite to balance the Mainlander-dominated power structure. Lee Teng-hui's Cornell doctorate, fluent English, and agricultural expertise perfectly fit Chiang Ching-kuo's needs.

Curator's Note:
This choice rewrote Taiwan's history. Had Chiang Ching-kuo not promoted Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's democratic transition might have been entirely different.

Over the next ten years, Lee climbed steadily: Mayor of Taipei (1978–1981), Governor of Taiwan Province (1981–1984), Vice President (1984–1988). Each position was political tempering; each was also a battleground of power struggles.

On January 13, 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo died. Under the constitution, Vice President Lee Teng-hui succeeded to the presidency.

At that moment, many assumed he would be just a transitional figurehead. After all, he was native Taiwanese, in a KMT system dominated by Mainlanders — how far could he go?

They were all wrong.

Winner of the Power Game

After Lee Teng-hui succeeded to the presidency, he immediately faced challenges from within the KMT. Party elders led by Soong Mei-ling, along with Lien Chan (whose father was Lien Sheng-wen), military figures, and various political operators — none believed this "Taiwan boy" could master the situation.

Thus erupted the famous "mainstream versus non-mainstream" factional struggle.

Lee Teng-hui demonstrated astonishing political skill. He simultaneously soothed party elders and cultivated local factions and business interests; simultaneously pushed democratic reform and consolidated personal power. In 1991, Soong Mei-ling left Taiwan in disgrace, moving to her Long Island, New York home and never returning.

The price of the power struggle was the proliferation of "black gold" politics.

To counter the non-mainstream KMT faction, Lee Teng-hui heavily nominated candidates with corporate ties or even underworld connections. These individuals had no political principles, knowing only how to pursue private interests through traditional patronage networks. "Black gold politics" rapidly spread through the 1990s, and Lee Teng-hui was criticized as the "godfather of black gold."

But this was political reality: to advance democracy, you must first hold power. And to hold power, you must make compromises with reality.

Controversial Perspectives:
Whether Lee Teng-hui was "Mr. Democracy" or the "godfather of black gold" remains contested. Supporters argue he made necessary choices under specific historical circumstances; critics argue he opened the door to Taiwan's monetization of politics.

The Silent Revolution: Six Constitutional Amendments

Lee Teng-hui's true historical contribution was completing Taiwan's democratic transition through six constitutional amendments.

July 15, 1987: Martial law is lifted. This martial law, which had been in effect for 38 years and 56 days, finally passed into history. Press restrictions and party bans were lifted; Taiwanese society breathed freedom again.

But the real challenge was institutional reform.

The biggest problem was the "Eternal Parliament" — those Central Representatives elected on the Mainland in 1947, still in office for over 40 years, yet still "representing" constituencies that no longer existed. This was the greatest obstacle to democratization.

In 1991, Lee Teng-hui pushed the first constitutional amendment, forcing these senior representatives to "retire with honor." The First Term Central Representatives all finally vacated their seats; the "Eternal Parliament" became history.

Then came a series of institutional reforms:

• 1992: Second amendment, establishing direct election of provincial and municipal governors
• 1994: Third amendment, establishing direct presidential election
• 1997: Fourth amendment, freezing the Taiwan Province, adjusting central-local authority, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years¹
• 1999–2000: Fifth and sixth amendments, abolishing the National Assembly (the fifth amendment had extended the terms of National Assembly delegates, later declared unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices in Interpretation No. 499)

Each amendment was the product of political maneuvering. Lee Teng-hui had to find balance amid pressures from within the KMT, between the KMT and the DPP, and from across Taiwanese society.

Data:
According to Constitutional Court records, Taiwan's constitution was amended six times during Lee Teng-hui's tenure, an average of once every two years, reflecting the density of constitutional engineering during the transition period.

On March 23, 1996, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. Lee Teng-hui won with 54% of the vote, becoming the first democratically elected president in the Chinese-speaking world.

This election took place against the backdrop of the 1995–1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis.

The Cornell Speech's Butterfly Effect

Back to that 1995 Cornell speech.

In his address, Lee Teng-hui first articulated the concept of "the Republic of China on Taiwan" — touching Beijing's red line. China immediately launched a series of military exercises, from July 1995 through March 1996, firing missiles into Taiwan's nearby waters in an attempt to influence the presidential election.

The crisis peaked in the second round of exercises, March 8–15, 1996. China conducted "joint war readiness exercises" near Taiwan, simulating an attack on the island. The United States immediately deployed two carrier battle groups to sail through the Taiwan Strait; a war that had nearly ignited was finally extinguished.

Paradoxically, the missile crisis actually consolidated Taiwan's democracy. Facing an external threat, Taiwanese united; Lee Teng-hui's prestige reached its peak. In the March 23 presidential election, he defeated his opponents by a wide margin, winning a historic 5.84 million votes.

A single speech triggered a missile crisis, yet inadvertently completed the consolidation of democracy. This is the complexity of cross-strait relations: confrontation and reconciliation, threat and opportunity — often separated by a hairline.

Curator's Note:
The 1995 Cornell speech is regarded by many scholars as a watershed in cross-strait relations. From that point on, the two sides moved from "one China, each with its own interpretation" toward a more complex sovereignty dispute.

The Two-States Theory and Political Legacy

In July 1999, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, Lee Teng-hui characterized cross-strait relations as "a special state-to-state relationship" — the famous "Two-States Theory."

This formulation again triggered a storm. Beijing denounced Lee Teng-hui as a "Taiwan independence element"; cross-strait relations deteriorated sharply. Even within the KMT, voices criticized Lee Teng-hui as "too radical."

But from Lee Teng-hui's perspective, this was an accurate description of reality. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are indeed each governed by separate governments, neither subordinate to the other — if that is not a "state-to-state relationship," what is it?

In March 2000, Lee Teng-hui supported Lien Chan in the presidential election, but the KMT lost to Chen Shui-bian. Twelve years of governance finally ended.

On May 20, 2000, Lee Teng-hui held his departure ceremony at the Presidential Office, formally transferring the official seal to Chen Shui-bian. In that moment, Taiwan completed the first democratic transfer of power between political parties in the Chinese-speaking world.

A Contested Historical Assessment

After Lee Teng-hui's death, evaluations of him split sharply:

Lee Teng-hui as seen by supporters: Mr. Democracy, Father of Taiwan's Democracy, architect of the silent revolution. US Secretary of State Pompeo called him "the architect of Taiwan's transformation into a beacon of democracy"; the White House praised him as "a model of world democratic governance for stepping down in accordance with term limits."

Lee Teng-hui as seen by critics: Godfather of black gold, Taiwan independence element, instigator of the KMT's split. Hung Hsiu-chu criticized him for "moving from democracy into black gold"; Chinese state media called him "a criminal against the nation."

But perhaps the most apt assessment came from Tsai Ing-wen: "Without Lee Teng-hui, there would be no Taiwan democracy as it exists today."

This assessment points to the core historical question: transitional justice versus political reality, idealism versus pragmatism. Lee Teng-hui chose the latter, bearing all the controversy as the price — but the result was Taiwan's democratic system.

✦ "Born as Japanese, but not really Japanese; after the war, becoming Chinese, but not really Chinese. This is the sorrow of the Taiwanese, struggling and entangled between identities."

— Legislator Freddy Lim on Lee Teng-hui

The Price and Meaning of Democracy

Lee Teng-hui's life is a microcosm of Taiwan's modern history: from colonization to recovery, from martial law to freedom, from authoritarianism to democracy. He was both witness and creator of history.

His achievements are undeniable: without a bloody coup, he completed the transition from authoritarian rule to democratic governance, establishing the first stable democratic system in the Chinese-speaking world.

His controversies are equally real: compromising with black gold to consolidate power, intensifying cross-strait tensions to resist China, splitting the KMT in the name of nativization.

But history is never simply black and white. Democratization is a complex political undertaking that requires balance between ideals and reality. Lee Teng-hui made his choices, bore his responsibilities, and endured his criticism.

Lee Teng-hui died in Taipei on July 30, 2020, at the age of 97. At his memorial service, Tsai Ing-wen said: "President Lee used his entire life to lay the foundations of democracy for Taiwan."

In the audience sat politicians from all parties and many ordinary citizens. In that moment, regardless of political affiliation, everyone was bidding farewell to an era: an era that moved from authoritarianism to democracy, an era full of contradictions yet full of hope.

Lee Teng-hui is gone, but the democratic system he left behind remains. Every four-year presidential election, every party rotation, every person's right to speak freely — these things that today seem self-evident were once fought for by Lee Teng-hui's generation with their lives.

Perhaps this is his most important political legacy: imperfect, but real; contested, but enduring; full of human flaws, yet carrying the hope of democracy.

References

• Lee Teng-hui's Death: The "Mr. Democracy" Who Led the "Silent Revolution" and the Pro-Japan "Traitor to the Nation" — BBC Chinese
• President Lee Teng-hui's 1995 Visit to Cornell University — Wikipedia
• Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's 'father of democracy', dies aged 97 — The Guardian
• Japanese Childhood and Agricultural Economics — OFTaiwan
• Silent Revolution — Wikipedia
• Taiwan Black Gold Politics — Wikipedia