30-second overview: An agricultural economist born under Japanese rule
who spoke Japanese as his first language became the first democratic leader
in the Chinese-speaking world. He spent 12 years peacefully transitioning Taiwan
from authoritarianism to democracy, but at the cost of triggering the Taiwan Strait missile crisis.
From Iwasato Masao to Lee Teng-hui
June 9, 1995, afternoon, Cornell University's Olin Lecture Hall. A 72-year-old man delivered a speech in English titled "Always in My Heart." The audience was packed with American political and academic figures, CNN broadcast live, and the world was watching.
Few people knew that this man's first language was actually Japanese. His birth name was Iwasato Masao (岩里政男, いわさと まさお), born in 1923 to a farming family in Japanese-ruled Taiwan. He grew up speaking Japanese and receiving Japanese education, even earning a scholarship to Kyoto Imperial University—something virtually impossible for Taiwanese at that time.
💡 Did you know?
Lee Teng-hui was one of the very few Taiwanese students to receive an Imperial University scholarship. He chose agricultural economics because he witnessed the social injustice of farmers' labor being disproportionate to their harvest.
The war changed everything. When Japan surrendered in 1945, Taiwan was "retroceded," and Iwasato Masao was forced to leave Kyoto Imperial University and return to a Chinese-speaking Taiwan. From then on, he became Lee Teng-hui.
This sense of identity fragmentation would follow him for life.
The Scholar's Political Ambition
When Lee Teng-hui returned from Cornell University with a PhD in agricultural economics in 1968, no one expected this scholar would change Taiwan's history. He dutifully returned to work at the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR), researching Taiwan's agricultural policies, publishing papers, and serving as a standard technocrat.
The turning point came in 1972.
That year, Chiang Ching-kuo became Premier and took notice of this 49-year-old agricultural expert. Lee Teng-hui was recruited as Minister without Portfolio, becoming the youngest cabinet member in Chiang Ching-kuo's administration. From that moment, Lee ended his scholarly career and embarked on an irreversible political path.
This wasn't coincidental. Chiang Ching-kuo was promoting "Taiwanization" policies, needing capable and knowledgeable Taiwanese elites to balance the power structure dominated by mainlanders. Lee's Cornell PhD, fluent English, and agricultural expertise perfectly fit Chiang's needs.
📝 Curator's note
This choice rewrote Taiwan's history. If Chiang Ching-kuo hadn't promoted Lee Teng-hui back then, Taiwan's democratization process might have been completely different.
Over the next decade, Lee climbed from Minister without Portfolio through various positions: Taipei Mayor (1978-1981), Taiwan Provincial Governor (1981-1984), Vice President (1984-1988). Each position was political training and a battlefield in power struggles.
On January 13, 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo passed away. According to the constitution, Vice President Lee Teng-hui succeeded as President.
At that moment, many thought he was just a transitional puppet. After all, he was Taiwanese in a KMT system dominated by mainlanders—how far could he go?
They were all wrong.
Victor in the Power Game
After becoming President, Lee immediately faced power challenges within the KMT. Party elders led by Soong May-ling, Lien Chan's father Lien Zhan, and various military and political figures didn't believe this "Taiwan boy" could maintain control.
Thus began the famous "Mainstream vs. Non-mainstream" struggle.
Lee demonstrated remarkable political acumen. He appeased party elders while courting local factions and business groups; he pushed for democratic reforms while consolidating personal power. In 1991, Soong May-ling left Taiwan in dejection, relocating to Long Island, New York, never to return.
The cost of the power struggle was the proliferation of black-gold politics.
To counter the non-mainstream faction within the party, Lee extensively nominated candidates with business backgrounds and even criminal connections. These people had no political ideals, only knowing how to pursue private interests through traditional networks. Thus "black-gold politics" rapidly developed in the 1990s, earning Lee the criticism of being the "Godfather of Black Gold."
But this was political reality: to push for democracy, one must first grasp power. And to grasp power, one must compromise with reality.
⚠️ Controversial viewpoint
Whether Lee Teng-hui was "Mr. Democracy" or the "Godfather of Black Gold" remains disputed today. Supporters believe he made necessary choices under specific circumstances; critics argue he initiated Taiwan's political monetization.
The Quiet Revolution Through 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 was lifted. This martial law, implemented for 38 years and 56 days, finally ended. Media restrictions and the ban on political parties were lifted, and Taiwanese society regained the breath of freedom.
But the real challenge was institutional reform.
The biggest problem was the "Ten-Thousand-Year Congress"—those central representatives elected on the mainland in 1947, who had been in office for over 40 years while still "representing" constituencies that no longer existed. This was the greatest obstacle to democratization.
In 1991, Lee pushed for the first constitutional amendment, allowing these senior central representatives to "retire with honor." The first-term central representatives finally all stepped down, making the "Ten-Thousand-Year Congress" history.
This was followed by a series of institutional reconstructions:
- 1992: Second amendment, establishing direct election of provincial and municipal governors
- 1994: Third amendment, establishing direct presidential elections
- 1997: Fourth amendment, freezing the provincial government and adjusting central-local authority
- 1999: Fifth and sixth amendments, extending presidential terms and abolishing the National Assembly
Each constitutional amendment resulted from political maneuvering. Lee had to find balance among pressures within the KMT, with the Democratic Progressive Party, and from various social sectors.
March 23, 1996: Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. Lee was elected with 54% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in the Chinese-speaking world.
The backdrop to this election was the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait missile crisis.
The Butterfly Effect of the Cornell Speech
Back to that Cornell speech in 1995.
In his speech, Lee first proposed the concept of "Republic of China on Taiwan," touching Beijing's red line. China immediately launched a series of military exercises from July 1995 to March 1996, firing missiles near Taiwan's waters, attempting to influence the presidential election.
The crisis peaked during the second round of military exercises on March 8-15, 1996. China conducted "joint military exercises" in waters near Taiwan, simulating an invasion. The United States immediately dispatched two carrier battle groups through the Taiwan Strait, averting what could have been a full-scale war.
Paradoxically, the missile crisis actually consolidated Taiwan's democracy. Facing external threats, Taiwanese became more united, and Lee's prestige reached new heights. In the March 23 presidential election, he defeated opponents by a wide margin, receiving a historic 5.84 million votes.
One speech triggered a missile crisis but inadvertently completed democratic consolidation. This exemplifies the complexity of cross-strait relations: conflict and reconciliation, threat and opportunity, often separated by a thin line.
Two-State Theory and Political Legacy
In July 1999, Lee told Deutsche Welle that cross-strait relations were "special state-to-state relations," the famous "Two-State Theory."
This statement again caused an uproar. Beijing condemned Lee as a "Taiwan independence splittist," and cross-strait relations deteriorated rapidly. Even within his party, some criticized Lee for being "too radical."
But from Lee's perspective, this was an accurate description of reality. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait were indeed governed by two different governments that were not subordinate to each other—what else could this be but "state-to-state relations"?
In March 2000, Lee supported Lien Chan in the presidential election, but the KMT lost to Chen Shui-bian. Twelve years of rule finally ended.
On May 20, 2000, Lee held a departure ceremony at the Presidential Office, formally transferring the seal to Chen Shui-bian. At that moment, Taiwan completed the first democratic transition of power in the Chinese-speaking world.
Contradictory Historical Assessment
After Lee's death, evaluations of him were polarized:
In supporters' eyes: Mr. Democracy, Father of Taiwan's Democracy, leader of the Quiet Revolution. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called him "the architect of Taiwan's transformation into a democratic beacon," while the White House praised him as "a model of democratic governance worldwide" for respecting term limits.
In critics' eyes: Godfather of Black Gold, Taiwan independence splittist, the one who split the KMT. Hung Hsiu-chu criticized him for leading Taiwan "from democracy into black-gold," while Chinese state media called him a "traitor to the nation."
But perhaps the most balanced assessment came from Tsai Ing-wen: "Without Lee Teng-hui, there would be no Taiwan democracy today."
This assessment highlighted history's core dilemma: transitional justice vs. political reality, idealism vs. pragmatism. Lee chose the latter, bearing all controversies as the price, but achieving Taiwan's democratic system as the result.
The Cost and Meaning of Democracy
Lee Teng-hui's life epitomized Taiwan's modern history: from colonization to retrocession, from martial law to freedom, from authoritarianism to democracy. He was both a witness to and creator of history.
His achievements were undeniable: completing the transition from authoritarian rule to democratic politics without bloodshed, establishing the first stable democratic system in the Chinese-speaking world.
His controversies were also real: compromising with black-gold forces to consolidate power, intensifying cross-strait relations to resist China, splitting the KMT for Taiwanization.
But history is never black and white. Democratization is a complex political project requiring balance between ideals and reality. Lee made his choices, bore his responsibilities, and endured his criticisms.
On July 30, 2020, Lee Teng-hui passed away in Taipei at age 97. At his memorial service, Tsai Ing-wen said: "President Lee used his life to lay the foundation for Taiwan's democracy."
In the audience sat politicians from various parties and many ordinary citizens. At that moment, regardless of political stance, everyone was bidding farewell to an era: an era of transition from authoritarianism to democracy, an era full of contradictions yet also full of hope.
Lee Teng-hui was gone, but the democratic system he left behind remained. Quadrennial presidential elections, peaceful transitions of power, everyone's right to speak freely—things that seem natural today were once fought for with their lives by Lee's generation.
This was perhaps his most important political legacy: imperfect but real; controversial but enduring; filled with human flaws but carrying democratic hope.
References
- Lee Teng-hui: Taiwan's 'father of democracy' dies aged 97 - BBC
- 1995 Lee Teng-hui Cornell Visit - Wikipedia
- Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's 'father of democracy', dies aged 97 - The Guardian
- Japanese Childhood and Agricultural Economics - OFTaiwan
- Quiet Revolution - Wikipedia
- Taiwan Black Gold Politics - Wikipedia