Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or Ah-bian (阿扁) as he is colloqually referred was elected as the President of the Republic of China on Taiwan in March 2000 and took office in May 2000 with his Vice-President Lu Hsiu-lian. Although a member of the Democratic Progressive Party which has been traditionally supportive of Taiwan independence, Chen moderated this aspect of the party during the election and during his term in office. Although relations between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China remain cool, there is little of the personal invective which was directed at his precessor Lee Teng-hui.

Chen was born to very humble beginning in ???. He became a lawyer and became involved in politics when he defended the participants of the Kaohsuing incident against a military court. His wife ??? was paralyzed by a truck at a campaign rally in the early 1980's in what some in Taiwan believed to be part of the government to intimidate him.

He was elected as the mayor of Taipei in 1994 and lost this position in 1998. He won the presidency in 2000 as a result of a split between the Kuomintang and the People's First Party.

Chen Shui-bian is the first democratically elected leader in Chinese History.