Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian (1950-) (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 a tenant farming family in Kuantien Township of Tainan County in late 1950 (although he was not formally issued a birth certificate until February 1951). He studied to become a lawyer and later became involved in politics when he defended the participants of the Kaohsuing incident against a military court. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, was hit by a truck during a campaign rally in the early 1980s, and remains paralyzed from the waist down. Some in in Taiwan believed this was part of a government campaign to intimidate him.

In 1986, Chen was sentenced to eight months in prison for criticizing the government. He served his sentence in the Tucheng Penitentiary along with two other defendants in the same case. While he was in prison, his wife campaigned and was elected to the Legislative Yuan. Upon his release, Chen served as her legislative assistant and practiced law.

In 1989, Chen was elected to the Legislative Yuan and served as the executive director of the Democratic Progressive Party Congress. He was instrumental in laying out many of the DPP's positions on Taiwanese independence.

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.