:Lee Teng-hui

File:Lee Teng-hui younger.jpg armor{{cite news |date=3 November 2010 |title= |script-title=zh:再發"參拜靖國神社"論 李登輝媚日情結大起底 3 November 2010 |trans-title=Reiterating "visiting Yasukuni Shrine" remarks: Lee Teng-hui's pro-Japan complex fully exposed. 3 November 2010. |url=http://tw.news.chinayes.com/Content/20101103/kccs09xiiw6ps_2.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102102812/http://tw.news.chinayes.com/Content/20101103/kccs09xiiw6ps_2.shtml |archive-date=2 January 2013 |access-date=1 October 2012 |work=People's Daily |publisher=兩岸網}}]]

File:Lee Teng-hui with brother.jpg

Lee was born in the rural farming community of Sanshi Village, Taihoku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan. He was of Yongding, Tingzhou Hakka descent.{{Cite web |date=30 July 2020 |title=【李登輝逝世】2次落榜終考上高中 太平洋戰爭卻中斷李登輝的求學路 |trans-title=[Lee Teng-hui's Passing] Failed twice but finally passed high school entrance exam, only to have his studies interrupted by the Pacific War. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzzjU77TkM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202001338/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzzjU77TkM |archive-date=2 February 2021 |accessdate=24 August 2020 |work=Mirror Media}}{{cite journal |author=Ang Ui-jin |author1-link=Ang Ui-jin |date=March 1988 |title=末代客家人 – 三芝客家方言廢島尋寶 |trans-title=The Last Hakka – Treasure Hunt for a Fading Hakka Dialect on an Island in Sanzhi |journal=客家風雲 |issue=5}}{{Cite web |date=11 September 2015 |title=《時報周刊》透視李登輝權謀術 用盡郝宋再丟棄 就像夾死蒼蠅 |trans-title=Times Weekly: A look into Lee Teng-hui's political maneuvering — using and then discarding Hao and Soong, like swatting flies. |url=https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20150911001071-260603?chdtv |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202000828/https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20150911001071-260603?chdtv |archive-date=2 February 2021 |accessdate=17 August 2020}} As a child, he often dreamed of traveling abroad, and became an avid stamp collector. Growing up under Japanese colonial rule, he developed a strong interest in Japan. He was given his Japanese name, Iwasato Masao (岩里政男) by his father. Lee's father was a middle-level Japanese police aide, and his elder brother, Lee Teng-chin (李登欽), who was also known as {{jp||岩里武則|Iwasato Takenori}} in Japanese, joined the colony's police academy and soon volunteered for the Imperial Japanese Navy and died in Manila.{{cite news |script-title=zh:再發"參拜靖國神社"論 李登輝媚日情結大起底 3 November 2010 | date=3 November 2010 | access-date=1 October 2012 | url = http://tw.news.chinayes.com/Content/20101103/kccs09xiiw6ps_3.shtml | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130102050033/http://tw.news.chinayes.com/Content/20101103/kccs09xiiw6ps_3.shtml | url-status=dead | archive-date=2 January 2013 |newspaper = People's Daily |via = 兩岸網 }} Lee—one of only four Taiwanese students in his class at {{ill|Taihoku Higher School|zh|臺灣總督府臺北高等學校}}, the only higher school (preparatory schools for the Imperial Universities) in Japanese Taiwan—graduated with honors and was given a scholarship to Japan's Kyoto Imperial University.{{cite news |last1=Ellis |first1=Samson |title=Taiwan President Who Forged Island's Path to Democracy Dies |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-30/taiwan-president-who-forged-island-s-path-to-democracy-dies |work=Bloomberg |date=30 July 2020 |access-date=30 July 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730235734/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-30/taiwan-president-who-forged-island-s-path-to-democracy-dies |url-status=live }}

During his school days, he learned kendo and bushido. A lifelong collector of books, Lee was heavily influenced by Japanese thinkers like Nitobe Inazō and Kitaro Nishida in Kyoto.{{cite book |last1=Kagan |first1=Richard |title=Taiwan's Statesman: Lee Teng-hui and Democracy in Asia |date=2014 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-61251-755-1 |pages=37–38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KATnBAAAQBAJ |language=en |access-date=15 December 2015 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113456/https://books.google.com/books?id=KATnBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} In 1944, he too volunteered for service in the Imperial Japanese Army and became a second lieutenant,{{cite journal|author-link1=J. Bruce Jacobs |last1=Jacobs |first1=J. Bruce |last2=Liu |first2=I-hao Ben |title = Lee Teng-Hui and the Idea of "Taiwan" |journal=The China Quarterly |date=June 2007 |volume=190 |issue=190 |pages=375–393 |doi=10.1017/S0305741007001245 |jstor = 20192775 |s2cid=154384016 }} in command of an anti-aircraft gun in Taiwan. He was ordered back to Japan in 1945 and participated in the clean-up after the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 1945.{{cite book |last1=Tsai |first1=S. |title=Lee Teng-hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity |date=2005 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4039-7717-5 |pages=49–50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ |language=en}} Lee stayed in Japan after the surrender and graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1946.{{cite news |last1=Jennings |first1=Ralph |title=Lee Teng-hui, former president of Taiwan, dies at 97 |url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-07-30/lee-teng-hui-president-taiwan-self-rule-china-dead |work=Los Angeles Times |date=30 July 2020 |access-date=30 July 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730161017/https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2020-07-30/lee-teng-hui-president-taiwan-self-rule-china-dead |url-status=live }}

After World War II ended, and the Republic of China took over Taiwan, Lee enrolled in the National Taiwan University, where in 1948 he earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural science. Lee joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for two stints, in September 1946 and October or November 1947, both times briefly.{{cite book|last1=Hickey|first1=Dennis V.|title=Foreign Policy Making in Taiwan|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134003051|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66R5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113459/https://books.google.com/books?id=66R5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|url-status=live}} Lee began the {{ill|New Democracy Association|zh|新民主同志會}} with four others.{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=Chris|title=Lee Teng-hui says he never applied for membership in CCP|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/06/20/2003565233|access-date=26 October 2014|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=20 June 2013|archive-date=26 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026032025/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/06/20/2003565233|url-status=live}} This group was absorbed by the CCP,{{cite news|last=Kuo|first=Adam Tyrsett|title=Ex-president denies ever being member of communist party|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/07/30/413590/Ex-president-denies.htm|access-date=26 October 2014|newspaper=China Post|date=30 July 2014|archive-date=26 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026034627/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/07/30/413590/Ex-president-denies.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Lee Teng-hui responds to Communist Party rumors|url=http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130621000092&cid=1101|access-date=26 October 2014|work=Want Want China Times|date=21 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026032536/http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130621000092&cid=1101|archive-date=26 October 2014}} and Lee officially left the party in September 1948.{{cite book|last=Tsai|first=Shih-shan Henry|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|page=60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113504/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60|url-status=live}} In a 2002 interview, Lee admitted that he had been a Communist; Lee remains the only Taiwanese president known to have once been a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In that same interview, Lee said that he had strongly opposed Communism for a long time because he understood the theory well and knew that it was doomed to fail. Lee stated that he joined the Communists out of hatred for the KMT.{{cite news |last=Lin |first=Mei-Chun |title=Lee admits to fling with Communism |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/11/08/0000178746 |access-date=26 October 2014 |newspaper=Taipei Times |date=8 November 2002 |archive-date=26 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026033015/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/11/08/0000178746 |url-status=live }}

In 1953, Lee received a master's degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University (ISU) in the United States. Lee returned to Taiwan in 1957 as an economist with the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR), an organization sponsored by the U.S. which aimed at modernizing Taiwan's agricultural system and at land reform.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/15/world/man-in-the-news-lee-teng-hui-taiwan-s-leader-and-son-of-the-soil.html |title=MAN IN THE NEWS: Lee Teng-hui; Taiwan's Leader and Son of the Soil |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |date=15 January 1988 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=18 November 2018 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119092045/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/15/world/man-in-the-news-lee-teng-hui-taiwan-s-leader-and-son-of-the-soil.html |url-status=live }} During this period, he also worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at National Taiwan University{{cite book|last=Tsai|first=Shih-shan Henry|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|pages=85–86|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113505/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|url-status=live}} and taught at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University.{{cite news |title=Lee Teng-hui: From scholar to statesman |url = http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=13325&CtNode=122 |access-date=3 November 2014 |newspaper=Taiwan Today|date=16 June 1995 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141104023315/http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=13325&CtNode=122 |archive-date=4 November 2014 }}

In the mid-1960s, Lee returned to the United States, and earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Cornell University in 1968. His advisor was John Williams Mellor. His doctoral dissertation, Intersectoral Capital Flows in the Economic Development of Taiwan, 1895–1960 (published as a book under the same name) was honored as the year's best doctoral thesis by the American Association of Agricultural Economics and remains an influential work on Taiwan's economy during the Japanese and early KMT periods.{{cite news|last=Wilde|first=Parke|title=TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY IN TAIWAN: LEE TENG-HUI AND THE JOINT COMMISSION ON RURAL RECONSTRUCTION (JCRR)|url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/121165/2/Cornell%20SP%2097-03.pdf|access-date=4 November 2014|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=May 1997|archive-date=4 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104035654/http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/121165/2/Cornell%20SP%2097-03.pdf|url-status=live}}

Lee encountered Christianity as a young man and in 1961 was baptised.{{cite book|last1=Tsai|first1=Shih-shan Henry|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|page=93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93|access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113506/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93|url-status=live}} For most of the rest of his political career, despite holding high office, Lee made a habit of giving sermons at churches around Taiwan, mostly on apolitical themes of service and humility.{{cite book|last1=Kagan|first1=Richard C.|title=Taiwan's Statesman: Lee Teng-Hui and Democracy in Asia|year=2007|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=9781591144274|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KATnBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT46|access-date=15 December 2015|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113537/https://books.google.com/books?id=KATnBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT46|url-status=live}} He was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.{{cite book|last=Kuo|first=Cheng-Tian|title=Religion and Democracy in Taiwan|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, NY|year=2008|page=13|isbn=978-0-7914-7445-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRIwtPyCkCQC&q=Li+Deng-hui+was+a+devoted+Presbyterian,+but+he+did+not+forget+his+duty+as+the+national+leader+to+pay+regular+visits+to+holy+places+of+various+religions&pg=PA13|quote=Li Deng-hui was a devoted Presbyterian, but he did not forget his duty as the national leader to pay regular visits to holy places of various religions.|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113507/https://books.google.com/books?id=VRIwtPyCkCQC&q=Li+Deng-hui+was+a+devoted+Presbyterian,+but+he+did+not+forget+his+duty+as+the+national+leader+to+pay+regular+visits+to+holy+places+of+various+religions&pg=PA13|url-status=live}}

Lee's native language was Taiwanese Hokkien. He was proficient in both Mandarin and Japanese and was able to speak English well.{{cite book|last1=Tsai|first1=Henry Shih-shan|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|page=96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44}}{{cite journal|last1=Wang|first1=Q. K.|title=Japan's Balancing Act in the Taiwan Strait|journal=Security Dialogue|date=1 September 2000|volume=31|issue=3|page=338|doi=10.1177/0967010600031003007 |s2cid=144572947|quote="Taiwan's former president Lee Teng Hui, who was educated in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese,[...]"}} It has been claimed that he was more proficient in Japanese than Mandarin.Crowell, Todd and Laurie Underwood. "[http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/1227/cs2.html In the Eye of the Storm]." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20131012041750/http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/1227/cs2.html Archive]) Asiaweek. "The Chinese leadership regards him as a closet secessionist and possibly too pro-Japanese (born during Japan's occupation of Taiwan, he speaks Japanese better than Mandarin)."

Shortly after returning to Taiwan, Lee joined the KMT in 1971{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: The former president's reversal |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/09/02/2003699637 |access-date=1 September 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=2 September 2018 |archive-date=2 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902052236/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/09/02/2003699637 |url-status=live }} and was made a cabinet minister without portfolio responsible for agriculture.{{cite news |title=The Soul of a Statesman |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4,29,31,45&post=4334 |access-date=31 July 2018 |work=Taiwan Today |date=1 April 2008 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731093232/https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4,29,31,45&post=4334 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Tsai |first1=Shih-shan Henry |title=Lee Teng-hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity |date=2005 |publisher=Palgrave Macmilllan |doi=10.1057/9781403977175 |isbn=978-1-4039-7717-5 |page=xiv |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-1-4039-7717-5%2F1.pdf |access-date=31 July 2018 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731123442/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-1-4039-7717-5%2F1.pdf |url-status=live }}

In 1978, Lee was appointed mayor of Taipei,Richard Kagan. Taiwan's Statesman: Lee Teng-hui and Democracy in Asia. Naval Institute Press, 2014. p. 91-93. {{ISBN|9781612517551}} where he solved water shortages and improved the city's irrigation problems. In 1981, he became governor of Taiwan Province and made further irrigation improvements.

As a skilled technocrat, Lee soon caught the eye of President Chiang Ching-kuo as a strong candidate to serve as vice president. Chiang sought to move more authority to the bensheng ren (residents of Taiwan before 1949 and their descendants) instead of continuing to promote waisheng ren (Chinese immigrants who arrived in Taiwan after 1949 and their descendants) as his father had. President Chiang nominated Lee to become his Vice President. Lee was formally elected by the National Assembly in 1984.

{{See also|February 1990 power struggle}}

Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988 and Lee succeeded him as president.Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 180. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} The "Palace Faction" of the KMT, a group of conservative Chinese headed by General Hau Pei-tsun, Premier Yu Kuo-hwa, and Education Minister Lee Huan, as well as Chiang Kai-shek's widow, Soong Mei-ling, were deeply distrustful of Lee and sought to block his accession to the KMT chairmanship and sideline him as a figurehead. With the help of James Soong—himself a member of the Palace Faction—who quieted the hardliners with the famous plea "Each day of delay is a day of disrespect to Ching-kuo," Lee was allowed to ascend to the chairmanship unobstructed.{{Cite web|date=15 March 2000|title=The many faces of James Soong – Taipei Times|url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/insight/archives/2000/03/15/0000027929|access-date=31 July 2020|website=www.taipeitimes.com|archive-date=10 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210072306/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/insight/archives/2000/03/15/0000027929|url-status=live}} At the 13th National Congress of Kuomintang in July 1988, Lee named 31 members of the Central Committee, 16 of whom were bensheng ren: for the first time, bensheng ren held a majority in what was then a powerful policy-making body.Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 181. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} On 20 March, he ordered to release the political prisoner, Gen. Sun Li-jen from 33 years of house arrest.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW9yrtekFRkC&pg=P1 |title=Opposition and dissent in contemporary China |author=Peter R. Moody |year=1977 |publisher=Hoover Press |isbn=0-8179-6771-0 |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113509/https://books.google.com/books?id=AW9yrtekFRkC&pg=P1 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoB35f6HD9gC&pg=P1 |title=Patterns in the dust: Chinese-American relations and the recognition controversy, 1949-1950 |author=Nancy Bernkopf Tucker |author-link=Nancy Bernkopf Tucker |year=1983 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-05362-2 |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113510/https://books.google.com/books?id=YoB35f6HD9gC&pg=P1 |url-status=live }} In August, he listened to the aboriginal legislator Tsai Chung-han's advocacy in the General Assembly of Legislative Yuan and the journalism reportage of Independence Evening Post on the human rights' concern to release the remaining survivors of the civilian Tanker Tuapse free after 34 years in captivity.{{Cite web |title=The Early Taiwan-Russian relations you may not know |url=https://fubowu.com/2018/01/23/%E4%BD%A0%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E4%B8%8D%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A9%E6%9C%9F%E5%8F%B0%E4%BF%84%E9%97%9C%E4%BF%82/ |author=Wu Fucheng |date=23 January 2018 |publisher=European Union Forum, Tamkang University |language=zh-tw |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417074655/https://fubowu.com/2018/01/23/%E4%BD%A0%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E4%B8%8D%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A9%E6%9C%9F%E5%8F%B0%E4%BF%84%E9%97%9C%E4%BF%82/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |author=Andrey Slyusarenko |title=Floating for half a life |url=https://odessa-life.od.ua/article/264-plavanie-dlinoyu-v-polzhizni |publisher=Odessa Life |date=11 November 2009 |language=ru-ru |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=23 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223221423/https://odessa-life.od.ua/article/264-plavanie-dlinoyu-v-polzhizni |url-status=live }}Lee Teng-hui also intervened in the selection of the vice president of the Legislative Yuan that year, replacing the hardliner Chao Tzu-chi, who was supported by Legislative Yuan presidential candidate Liu Kuo-tsai, with the more moderate Liang Su-yung. Two years later, Liang succeeded Liu as president of the Legislative Yuan.{{cite book |last1=章 |first1=炎憲 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQyDDwAAQBAJ&dq=%E6%A2%81%E8%82%85%E6%88%8E+cc&pg=PA1970 |title=戰後台灣媒體與轉型正義論文集 |date=2008 |publisher=財團法人吳三連獎基金會 |isbn=9789868429314 |pages=1970 |trans-title=Post-War Taiwanese Media and Transitional Justice Essays |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |last=羅 |first=成典 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiRQBAAAQBAJ&dq=%E8%B6%99%E8%87%AA%E9%BD%8A+%E7%AB%8B%E6%B3%95%E9%99%A2%E9%A2%A8%E9%9B%B2%E9%8C%84&pg=PA225 |title=立法院風雲錄 |date=2014 |publisher=獨立作家出版 |isbn=9789865729288 |pages=225 |language=zh |trans-title=Chronicles of the Legislative Yuan}}

While Lee Teng-hui is credited with advancing Taiwan's democratization, his tenure was also marked by controversies surrounding black gold politics and populism. The term "black gold politics" refers to the involvement of organized crime in local politics, leading to corruption and the entanglement of political figures with criminal elements. This phenomenon has been linked to populist policies that, while appealing to the masses, sometimes overlooked institutional integrity and governance standards. Critics argue that these issues not only compromised the political environment but also hindered effective governance during Lee's administration.{{cite book |last=林 |first=澤燊 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dpfp-BuExksC&dq=%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BB%E8%BC%9D+%E9%BB%91%E9%87%91&pg=PA422 |title=新鏗鏘集 以史為鑑, 挑戰未來 |date=2011 |publisher=日落草廬 |isbn=9780692011201 |pages=422 |language=zh |trans-title=New Sonorous Collection: Learning from history and challenging the future}}{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Ko-lin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fp-4AAAAIAAJ&q=%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BB%E8%BC%9D+%E9%BB%91%E9%87%91 |title=黑金 台灣政治與經濟實況揭密 |date=2004 |publisher=商周出版 |isbn=9789861242071 |pages=237 |language=zh |trans-title=Crony Capitalism: Unveiling Taiwan's Political and Economic Realities}}{{cite book |last= 專輯組|first=《明報》 |title=明察天下2 |date=2015 |publisher=Ming bao chu ban she you xian gong si |isbn=9789888337194 |pages=119 |language=zh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoCQCgAAQBAJ&dq=%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BB%E8%BC%9D+%E9%BB%91%E9%87%91&pg=PA119}}

As he consolidated power during the early years of his presidency, Lee allowed his rivals within the KMT to occupy positions of influence:[https://web.archive.org/web/20200731124138/https://time.com/5873614/former-taiwanese-president-lee-teng-hui-dies-97/ "Former President Lee Teng-hui Who Brought Direct Elections to Taiwan Dies at 97."] Time. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020. when Yu Guo-hwa retired as premier in 1989, he was replaced by Lee Huan,Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 186. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} who was succeeded by Hau Pei-tsun in 1990.Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 187. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} At the same time, Lee made a major reshuffle of the Executive Yuan, as he had done with the KMT Central Committee, replacing several elderly waishengren with younger benshengren, mostly of technical backgrounds. Fourteen of these new appointees, like Lee, had been educated in the United States. Prominent among the appointments were Lien Chan as foreign minister and Shirley Kuo as finance minister.

1990 saw the arrival of the Wild Lily student movement on behalf of full democracy for Taiwan.Jewel Huang. [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/03/22/2003247307 "TSU proposes changing date of Youth Day to March 21."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930034140/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/03/22/2003247307 |date=30 September 2020 }} Taipei Times. 22 March 2005. Retrieved 30 July 2020. Thousands of Taiwanese students demonstrated for democratic reforms. The demonstrations culminated in a sit-in demonstration by over 300,000 students at Memorial Square in Taipei. Students called for direct elections of the national president and vice president and for a new election for all legislative seats. On 21 March, Lee welcomed some of the students to the Presidential Building. He expressed his support of their goals and pledged his commitment to full democracy in Taiwan.{{Cite web|title=壓抑到綻放──校園民主醞釀出的野百合（三之一） – 上報 / 評論|url=https://www.upmedia.mg/news_info.php?SerialNo=87805|access-date=31 July 2020|website=Up Media|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611140217/https://www.upmedia.mg/news_info.php?SerialNo=87805|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=民間全民電視公司 |date=31 July 2020 |title=李登輝辭世 野百合學運女神憶當年... |trans-title=Lee Teng-hui's passing: Wild Lily student movement goddess recalls those years... |url=https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2020731W0057 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630083608/https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2020731W0057 |archive-date=30 June 2021 |access-date=31 July 2020 |website=民視新聞網 |language=zh-Hant}}

In May 1991, Lee spearheaded a drive to eliminate the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion, laws put in place following the KMT arrival in 1949 that suspended the democratic functions of the government."Chia-lung Lin and Bo Tedards. "Lee Teng-hui: Transformational Leadership in Taiwan's Transition." Sayonara to the Lee Teng-hui Era. Wei-chin Lee and T. Y. Wang, eds. University Press of America, 2003. p. 36. {{ISBN|9780761825890}} In December 1991, the original members of the Legislative Yuan, elected to represent Chinese constituencies in 1948, were forced to resign and new elections were held to apportion more seats to the bensheng ren.Steven J. Hood. The Kuomintang and the Democratization of Taiwan. Westview, 1997. p. 102. {{ISBN|9780813390079}} The elections forced Hau Pei-tsun from the premiership, a position he was given in exchange for his tacit support of Lee. He was replaced by Lien Chan, then an ally of Lee.

The prospect of the first island-wide democratic election the next year, together with Lee's June 1995 visit to Cornell University, sparked the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis. The United States had not prepared the PRC for Lee receiving a United States visa.{{Cite book |last=Lampton |first=David M. |title=Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-8725-8 |location=Lanham, MD |pages=224 |author-link=David M. Lampton}} While in the United States, Lee stated, "Taiwan is a country with independent sovereignty."{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Suisheng |title=The Taiwan Question in Xi Jinping's Era: Beijing's Evolving Taiwan Policy and Taiwan's Internal and External Dynamics |publisher=Routledge |year=2024 |isbn=9781032861661 |editor-last=Zhao |editor-first=Suisheng |editor-link=Suisheng Zhao |location=London and New York |pages= |chapter=Is Beijing's Long Game on Taiwan about to End? Peaceful Unification, Brinksmanship, and Military Takeover |doi=}}{{Rp|page=11}}

The PRC conducted a series of missile tests in the waters surrounding Taiwan and other military maneuvers off the coast of Fujian in response to what Communist Party leaders described as moves by Lee to "split the motherland".Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 197. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} The PRC government launched another set of tests just days before the election, sending missiles over the island to express its dissatisfaction should the Taiwanese people vote for Lee. In 1996, the United States sent two aircraft carrier groups to Taiwan's vicinity and the PRC then de-escalated. The military actions disrupted trade and shipping lines and caused a temporary dip in the Asian stock market.

Lee's overall stance on Taiwanese independence during the election cycle was characterized as "deliberately vague".{{cite news|last1=Tyler|first1=Patrick E.|title=Tension in Taiwan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/22/world/tension-in-taiwan-the-politics-war-games-play-well-for-taiwan-s-leader.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=3 June 2016|work=The New York Times|date=22 March 1996|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701173804/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/22/world/tension-in-taiwan-the-politics-war-games-play-well-for-taiwan-s-leader.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live}}

The previous eight presidents and vice presidents of the ROC had been elected by the members of the National Assembly. For the first time, the President of the ROC would be elected by majority vote of Taiwan's population. On 23 March 1996, Lee became the first popularly elected ROC president with 54% of the vote.Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 201. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} Many people who worked or resided in other countries made special trips back to the island to vote. In addition to the president, the governor of Taiwan Province and the mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung (as leaders of provincial level divisions they were formerly appointed by the president) became popularly elected.

Lee, in an interview that same year, expressed his view that a special state-to-state relationship existed between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) that all negotiations between the two sides of the Strait needed to observe.{{cite news|title=Why Beijing fears Taiwan's Lee Teng-hui|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/lee.tenghui/|access-date=4 November 2014|publisher=CNN|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924190222/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/lee.tenghui/|url-status=live}} PRC leadership interpreted this statement to mean that Taiwan would take efforts toward independence and consequently the remark increased Cross-Strait tensions.{{Cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Fiona S. |title=Under the Nuclear Shadow: China's Information-Age Weapons in International Security |date=2025 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-26103-4 |location=}}{{Rp|page=98}}

As president, he attempted to further reform the government. Controversially, he attempted to remove the provincial level of government and proposed that lower level government officials be appointed, not elected.{{cite news|last1=Ajello|first1=Robin|last2=Eyton|first2=Laurence|title=Superman no more|url=http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/97/0606/nat1.html|access-date=19 February 2017|publisher=CNN|date=6 June 1997|archive-date=20 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220093241/http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/97/0606/nat1.html|url-status=dead}}

Lee, observing constitutional term limits he had helped enact, stepped down from the presidency at the end of his term in 2000. That year, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian won the national election with 39% of the vote in a three-way race.{{cite news |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/031900taiwan-election.html |work=New York Times |title=After 50 Years, Nationalists Are Ousted in Taiwan Vote |first=Erik |last=Eckholm |access-date=31 July 2020 |date=18 March 2000 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923193110/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/031900taiwan-election.html |url-status=live }} Chen's victory marked an end to KMT rule and the first peaceful transfer of power in Taiwan's new democratic system.{{cite news |url=https://ips-dc.org/the_trials_and_tribulations_of_chinas_first_democracy_the_roc_one_year_after_the_victory_of_chen_shui-bian/ |date=1 February 2001 |first=Teresa |last=Wright |title=The Trials and Tribulations of China's First Democracy: The ROC One Year After the Victory of Chen Shui-bian |access-date=31 July 2020 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922134919/https://ips-dc.org/the_trials_and_tribulations_of_chinas_first_democracy_the_roc_one_year_after_the_victory_of_chen_shui-bian/ |url-status=live }}

Supporters of rival candidates Lien Chan and James Soong accused Lee of setting up the split in the KMT that had enabled Chen to win.Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-lee-obituary/taiwans-mr-democracy-lee-teng-hui-championed-island-defied-china-idUSKCN24V2AF "Taiwan's 'Mr Democracy' Lee Teng-hui championed island, defied China."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730185331/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-lee-obituary/taiwans-mr-democracy-lee-teng-hui-championed-island-defied-china-idUSKCN24V2AF |date=30 July 2020 }} Reuters. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020. Lee had promoted the uncharismatic Lien over the popular Soong as the KMT candidate. Soong had subsequently run as an independent and was expelled from the KMT. The number of votes garnered by both Soong and Lien would have accounted for approximately 60% of the vote while individually the candidates placed behind Chen."Chia-lung Lin and Bo Tedards. "Lee Teng-hui: Transformational Leadership in Taiwan's Transition." Sayonara to the Lee Teng-hui Era. Wei-chin Lee and T.Y. Wang, eds. University Press of America, 2003. p. 41. {{ISBN|9780761825890}} Protests were staged in front of the KMT party headquarters in Taipei. Fuelling this anger were the persistent suspicions following Lee throughout his presidency that he secretly supported Taiwan independence and that he was intentionally sabotaging the Kuomintang from above.Denny Roy. Taiwan: A Political History. Cornell University Press, 2003. p. 230. {{ISBN|9780801488054}} Lee resigned his chairmanship on 24 March.

During his presidency, Lee supported the Taiwanese localization movement.{{cite news|title=Farewell Lee Teng-hui|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB953844671744684377|access-date=3 June 2016|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=24 March 2000|archive-date=5 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805020339/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB953844671744684377|url-status=live}} The Taiwanization movement has its roots in Japanese rule founded during the Japanese era and sought to put emphasis on vernacular Taiwanese culture in Taiwan as the center of people's lives as opposed to Nationalist China.{{cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/pdf/2863 |first=Jean-Pierre |last=Cabestan |title=Specificities and Limits of Taiwanese Nationalism |journal=China Perspectives |volume=62 |date=November 2005 |page=3 |access-date=31 July 2020 |archive-date=19 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219171518/https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/pdf/2863 |url-status=live }} During the Chiang era, China was promoted as the center of an ideology that would build a Chinese national outlook in a people who had once considered themselves Japanese subjects.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHOhJ6B0M9UC&pg=PA112 |pages=112–113 |title=Between Assimilation and Independence: The Taiwanese Encounter Nationalist China, 1945–1950 |first=Steven E. |last=Phillips |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780804744577 |access-date=9 September 2020 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113514/https://books.google.com/books?id=WHOhJ6B0M9UC&pg=PA112 |url-status=live }} Taiwan was often relegated to a backwater province of China in the KMT-supported history books.{{cite web |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |title=China-Taiwan Relations |date=22 January 2020 |first=Eleanor |last=Albert |access-date=31 July 2020 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726215005/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations |url-status=live }} People were discouraged from studying local Taiwanese customs, which were to be replaced by mainstream Chinese customs. Lee sought to turn Taiwan into a center rather than an appendage. In 1997, he presided over the adoption of the Taiwan-centric history textbook Knowing Taiwan.

Under Lee, it was stated that "legally, historically, geographically, or in reality", all of the South China Sea and Spratly islands were the territory of the Republic of China and under ROC sovereignty, and denounced actions undertaken there by Malaysia and the Philippines, in a statement on 13 July 1999 released by the foreign ministry of Taiwan.{{cite news |author= STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update |date=14 July 1999 |title= Taiwan sticks to its guns, to U.S. chagrin |url= http://www.atimes.com/china/AG15Ad01.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000929110352/http://www.atimes.com/china/AG15Ad01.html |url-status= unfit |archive-date= 29 September 2000 |newspaper= Asia Times Online|access-date=10 March 2014}} The claims made by both the PRC and the Republic of China "mirror" each other.{{cite news |last= Sisci |first= Francesco |date=29 June 2010 |title= US toe-dipping muddies South China Sea |url= http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LG29Ad01.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100730065234/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LG29Ad01.html |url-status= unfit |archive-date= 30 July 2010 |newspaper=Asia Times Online |access-date= 14 May 2014}} During international talks involving the Spratly islands, the PRC and ROC have sometimes made efforts to coordinate their positions with each other since both have the same claims.[https://books.google.com/books?id=szcywfgKySAC&pg=PA91 Pak 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113518/https://books.google.com/books?id=szcywfgKySAC&pg=PA91 |date=12 April 2023 }}, p. 91.

{{Taiwan independence movement|People}}

File:Former Residence of Lee Teng-hui in Cuishan Zhuang 01 20250304.jpg

Since resigning the chairmanship of the KMT, Lee stated a number of political positions and ideas which he did not mention while he was president, but which he appeared to have privately maintained. After Lee endorsed the candidates of the newly formed Pan-Green Taiwan Solidarity Union, a party established by a number of his KMT allies, Lee was expelled from the KMT on 21 September 2001.{{cite news|title=Taiwan's KMT expels former president|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1556562.stm|access-date=1 June 2016|agency=BBC|date=21 September 2001|archive-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612152546/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1556562.stm|url-status=live}} Lee publicly supported the Name Rectification Campaigns in Taiwan and proposed changing the name of the country from the Republic of China to the Republic of Taiwan.{{cite news|title=Lee urges 'Taiwan' name change|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2003/08/24/40574/Lee-urges.htm|access-date=19 February 2016|work=China Post|date=24 August 2003|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180241/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2003/08/24/40574/Lee-urges.htm|url-status=live}} He generally opposed unlimited economic ties with the PRC, placing restrictions on Taiwanese wishing to invest in China.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1488551.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=31 July 2020 |date=13 August 2001 |title=Taiwan to free up China investment |archive-date=6 May 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040506031440/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1488551.stm |url-status=live }} After Chen Shui-bian succeeded Lee in the 2000 election, the two enjoyed a close relationship despite being from different political parties. Chen regularly asked Lee for advice during his first term in office. In Chen's 2001 book, he called Lee the "Father of Taiwanese Democracy" and also named himself the "Son of Taiwan" with respect to Lee. However, the two's relationship began to worsen when Lee questioned Chen's reform of the fisheries branch of the Council of Agriculture. Though Lee was present in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally orchestrated by the Pan-Green Coalition before the 2004 election, the two's relationship broke apart after Chen asked James Soong to be the President of the Executive Yuan in 2005, which Lee disagreed with. Lee also publicly criticized Chen in 2006 by calling him incapable and corrupt.{{cite news |author1=張文馨 |title=政壇恩怨／李登輝、陳水扁從水乳交融 到水火不容 |url=https://udn.com/news/story/121543/4738624 |access-date=31 July 2020 |agency=United Daily News |date=30 July 2020 |language=zh-tw |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803171917/https://udn.com/news/story/121543/4738624 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Sifakis |first=Michalis |date=2021-03-24 |title=vic88 |url=https://vic88.app/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=vic88.app |language=en}}{{cite news |author1=許雅慧 |title=【李登輝病逝】與陳水扁情同父子曾鬧翻 愛恨糾葛12年 |url=https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BB%E8%BC%9D%E7%97%85%E9%80%9D-%E8%88%87%E9%99%B3%E6%B0%B4%E6%89%81%E6%83%85%E5%90%8C%E7%88%B6%E5%AD%90%E6%9B%BE%E9%AC%A7%E7%BF%BB-%E6%84%9B%E6%81%A8%E7%B3%BE%E8%91%9B12%E5%B9%B4-121200211.html |access-date=31 July 2020 |agency=上報 |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=30 July 2020 |language=zh-tw |archive-date=28 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128102445/https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BB%E8%BC%9D%E7%97%85%E9%80%9D-%E8%88%87%E9%99%B3%E6%B0%B4%E6%89%81%E6%83%85%E5%90%8C%E7%88%B6%E5%AD%90%E6%9B%BE%E9%AC%A7%E7%BF%BB-%E6%84%9B%E6%81%A8%E7%B3%BE%E8%91%9B12%E5%B9%B4-121200211.html |url-status=live }} In February 2007, Lee shocked the media when he revealed that he did not support Taiwanese independence, when he was widely seen as the spiritual leader of the pro-independence movement."[https://chinapost.nownews.com/20070202-132089 Lu 'astonished' by Lee's about-face on Taiwan independence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928183612/https://chinapost.nownews.com/20070202-132089 |date=28 September 2020 }}", China Post Lee also said that he supported opening up trade and tourism with China, a position he had opposed before. Lee later explained that Taiwan already enjoys de facto independence and that political maneuvering over details of expressing it is counterproductive. He maintains that "Taiwan should seek 'normalization' by changing its name and amending its constitution."{{Cite web |last=Post |first=China |title=Chen shouldn't fear dealing with China: Lee |url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/front/200725/101740.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207073927/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/front/200725/101740.htm |archive-date=2007-02-07 |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=www.chinapost.com.tw}}

File:2013 臺灣前總統李登輝訪問桃園弘化育幼院 Former President of TAIWAN Visited Orphanage.jpg, Taoyuan City in 2013]]Lee enjoyed a warm relationship with the people and culture of Japan. During the latter period of Japanese rule of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, Lee attended a Japanese school where he was one of only four Taiwanese in a class of 23 pupils. At the time, due to the Kominka movement, Taiwanese Han culture and language was greatly discouraged. Lee's father was a middle-level Japanese police aide; his elder brother died serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II and is listed in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. During his youth, Lee had a Japanese name, {{jp||岩里政男|Iwasato Masao}}.{{cite news|author=Han Cheung|title=From Lee to Iwasato back to Lee|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2016/02/07/2003639001|access-date=8 February 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=7 February 2016|archive-date=7 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207090636/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2016/02/07/2003639001|url-status=live}} This name was suggested by Lee Teng-chin, combining Longyan ({{lang|zh-hant|龍岩}}), where their family originated, and their surname Lee ({{lang|zh-hant|李}}), which shares the same pronunciation with the character "{{lang|zh-hant|里}}" in both Japanese on'yomi and Chinese.{{cite news|author=Yang Shumei|title=李登輝1923-2020》警察之子，曾以日本兵身分參與二戰|url=https://www.storm.mg/article/2794246|access-date=4 November 2022|work=The Storm Media|date=30 July 2020|language=zh|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801031707/https://www.storm.mg/article/2794246|url-status=live}} Lee spoke fondly of his upbringing and his teachers and was welcomed in visits to Japan since leaving office. Lee admired and enjoyed all things Japanese such as traditional Japanese values.{{cite web |title=Tokyo governor tearful when paying respects to late Taiwan president |publisher=Taiwan News |author=Huang Tzu-ti |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3981828 |date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810060755/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3981828 |archive-date=10 August 2020}} This was the target of criticism from the Pan-Blue Coalition{{cite news|author1=Takefumi Hayata|title=Japanese must look beyond Lee Teng-hui|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2001/05/28/0000087621|access-date=7 September 2014|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=28 May 2001|archive-date=8 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908063004/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2001/05/28/0000087621|url-status=live}} in Taiwan, as well as from China,{{cite news|last1=Kastner|first1=Jens|title=Lee charges stir Taiwan|url=http://atimes.com/atimes/China/MG13Ad01.html|access-date=7 September 2014|work=Asia Times|date=13 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221344/http://atimes.com/atimes/China/MG13Ad01.html|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=unfit}} due to the anti-Japanese sentiment formed during and after World War II. However, this animosity fell in later years, especially in Taiwan.{{cite news|last1=Thim|first1=Michal|last2=Matsuoka|first2=Misato|title=The Odd Couple: Japan & Taiwan's Unlikely Friendship|url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/05/the-odd-couple-japan-taiwans-unlikely-friendship/|access-date=13 July 2015|work=The Diplomat|date=15 May 2014|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713220926/http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/the-odd-couple-japan-taiwans-unlikely-friendship/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Tsai|first1=Vivian|title=Taiwan And Japan: Two Nations With Long History Stuck In Limbo|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/taiwan-japan-two-nations-long-history-stuck-limbo-746532|access-date=13 July 2015|work=International Business Times|date=14 August 2012|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713231220/http://www.ibtimes.com/taiwan-japan-two-nations-long-history-stuck-limbo-746532|url-status=live}}

In 1989, he received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.reinanzaka-sc.o.oo7.jp/kiroku/documents/20140523-3-kiji-list.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=10 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202040356/http://reinanzaka-sc.o.oo7.jp/kiroku/documents/20140523-3-kiji-list.pdf |archive-date=2 December 2016 }}

In August 2001, Lee said of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visit to Yasukuni Shrine, "It is natural for a premier of a country to commemorate the souls of people who lost their lives for their country."{{cite news |title=Ex-Taiwan leader Lee backs Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni|work=Japan Times|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20051017a1.html}} In a May 2007 trip to Japan, Lee visited the shrine himself to pay tribute to his elder brother. Controversy rose because the shrine also enshrines World War II Class A criminals among the other soldiers.[http://www.chinapost.com.tw/front/111039.htm Lee to visit Japan's Yasukuni war shrine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121014938/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/front/111039.htm |date=21 January 2021 }} The China Post 31 May 2007.

During the 2012 China anti-Japanese demonstrations, on 13 September 2012, Lee remarked, "The Senkaku Islands, no matter whether in the past, for now or in the future, certainly belong to Japan."{{cite news|last1=Tiezzi|first1=Shannon|title=Taiwan's Former President Causes Controversy in Japan|url=https://thediplomat.com/2015/07/taiwans-former-president-causes-controversy-in-japan/|access-date=31 July 2015|work=The Diplomat|date=30 July 2015|archive-date=1 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801011109/http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/taiwans-former-president-causes-controversy-in-japan/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Lee Teng-hui: Diaoyutais have always been Japan's|url=http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120914000015&cid=1101|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150706052236/http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20120914000015&cid=1101|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 July 2015|access-date=31 July 2015|work=Want China Times|date=14 September 2012}} Ten years previously, he had stated, "The Senkaku Islands are the territory of Japan."{{cite web | title=Press Conference 27 September 2002 | date=24 August 2012 | access-date=4 October 2012 | url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/press/2002/9/0927.html | publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan | archive-date=21 January 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121014653/http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/press/2002/9/0927.html | url-status=live }} In September 2014, Lee expressed support for a Japanese equivalent to the United States' Taiwan Relations Act,{{cite news|title=China refutes Japanese version of Taiwan Relations Act|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-09/24/c_133668945.htm|access-date=13 July 2015|agency=Xinhua News Agency|date=24 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403173552/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-09/24/c_133668945.htm|archive-date=3 April 2015}} which was discussed in the Japanese Diet in February,{{cite news|title=Japanese lawmakers' version of the Taiwan Relations Act|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2014/02/27/401521/Japanese-lawmakers.htm|access-date=13 July 2015|work=China Post|date=27 February 2014|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713223047/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2014/02/27/401521/Japanese-lawmakers.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Tiezzi|first1=Shannon|title=To Counter Beijing, Japan Moves Closer to Taiwan|url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/02/to-counter-beijing-japan-moves-closer-to-taiwan/|work=The Diplomat|date=20 February 2014|access-date=12 February 2021|archive-date=19 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219121510/https://thediplomat.com/2014/02/to-counter-beijing-japan-moves-closer-to-taiwan/|url-status=live}} though the idea was first proposed by Chen Shui-bian in 2006.{{cite news|last1=Ko|first1=Shu-ling|title=Chen urges Japanese 'Taiwan relations act'|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/10/31/2003334112|access-date=13 July 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=31 October 2006|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713230425/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/10/31/2003334112|url-status=live}}

In 2014, Lee said in the Japanese magazine SAPIO published by Shogakukan, "China spreads lies such as Nanjing Massacre to the world ... Korea and China use invented history as their activity of propaganda for their country. Comfort women is the most remarkable example."{{cite web |date=27 January 2014 |title= |script-title=ja:李登輝氏 ホラ話を広め軋轢を生む中国はリーダーになれない |trans-title=Lee Teng-hui: China, which spreads tall tales and creates friction, cannot be a leader. |url=http://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20140127_236180.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817162912/http://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20140127_236180.html |archive-date=17 August 2017 |access-date=12 May 2016 |website=news-postseven.com |language=ja}} In 2015, Lee said "The issue of Taiwanese comfort women is already solved" in the Japanese magazine Voice (published by PHP Institute). He was strongly criticized by Chen I-hsin, spokesman of the Presidential Office as "not ignorant but cold-blooded". Chen added, "If Lee Teng-hui really thinks the issue of comfort women is solved, go to a theater and see Song of the Reed."{{cite web |date=20 August 2015 |title= |script-title=zh:慰安婦問題已解決？ 總統府批李登輝無知、冷血 |trans-title=Comfort women issue resolved? Presidential Office criticizes Lee Teng-hui as ignorant and cold-blooded. |url=http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1418700 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817163446/http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1418700 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |access-date=12 May 2016 |publisher=Liberty Times Net |language=zh-tw}}

File:蔡英文總統與前總統李登輝握手致意.jpg in 2016]]

In July 2015, Lee visited Japan, and again stated that Japan has full sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.{{cite news|last1=Hou|first1=Elaine|title=Lee's remarks on Diaoyutais 'unacceptable': presidential spokesman|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201507270012.aspx|access-date=27 July 2015|agency=Central News Agency|date=24 July 2015|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910205350/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201507270012.aspx|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=H.K.|last2=Lin|first2=Lillian|title=KMT chairman reaffirms Taiwan's sovereignty over Diaoyutais|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201507250010.aspx?q=lee%20teng%20hui|access-date=27 July 2015|agency=Central News Agency|date=25 July 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050404/http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201507250010.aspx?q=lee%20teng%20hui|url-status=live}} This was the first time Lee made remarks of this nature while in Japan. Members of the pan-Blue New Party and Kuomintang accused him of treason. New Party leader Yok Mu-ming filed charges of treason against Lee,{{cite news|author=Shih Hsiu-chuan|title=New Party files charges against Lee|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/07/28/2003624070|access-date=28 July 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=28 July 2015|archive-date=30 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150730014946/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/07/28/2003624070|url-status=live}} while the KMT's Lai Shyh-bao called a caucus meeting to seek revisions to the Act Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents, aimed at denying Lee privileges as a former president.{{cite news|last1=Tai|first1=Ya-chen|last2=Liu|first2=Shi-yi|last3=Tung|first3=Ning|last4=Chao|first4=Ken|title=KMT lawmakers threaten reprisal over Lee's Diayoutai comment|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201507270012.aspx|access-date=27 July 2015|agency=Central News Agency|date=27 July 2015|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910205350/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201507270012.aspx|url-status=live}}

Lee also stated, in 2015, that Taiwanese people were "subjects of Japan" and that Taiwan and Japan were "one country", sparking much criticism from both China and the Pan-Blue Coalition.{{Cite web|url=http://shanghaiist.com/2015/08/23/former_taiwan_prez_calls_japan_motherland/|title=Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui refers to Japan as 'the motherland,' infuriates both sides of the strait|date=23 August 2015|access-date=20 September 2020|archive-date=21 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921015417/http://shanghaiist.com/2015/08/23/former_taiwan_prez_calls_japan_motherland/|url-status=live}} In response to media requests for comment, then presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said that “each generation and ethnic group in Taiwan has lived a different history,” and that people should approach these differing experiences and interpretations with an attitude of understanding that will allow for learning from history, rather than allowing it to be used a tool for manipulating divisions.{{Cite web|url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/08/23/2003625969|title=DPP's Tsai calls for end to muckraking over histories – Taipei Times|date=23 August 2015|website=www.taipeitimes.com|access-date=20 September 2020|archive-date=19 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219120523/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/08/23/2003625969|url-status=live}}

Lee published a book, Remaining Life: My Life Journey and the Road of Taiwan's Democracy, in February 2016.{{cite news|last1=Lu|first1=Hsin-hui|last2=Chang|first2=S. C.|title=Former president calls for changing ROC into new republic|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201602160026.aspx|access-date=16 February 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=16 February 2016|archive-date=17 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217092348/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201602160026.aspx|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Chen|first1=Yu-fu|last2=Chung|first2=Jake|title=Lee Teng-hui book redefines 'status quo'|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/02/17/2003639546|access-date=17 February 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=17 February 2016|archive-date=17 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217014910/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/02/17/2003639546|url-status=live}} In it, he reasserted support for Japanese sovereignty claims over the Senkaku Islands, drawing complaints from the ROC Presidential Office,{{cite news|last1=Hsieh|first1=Chia-chen|last2=Kao|first2=Evelyn|title=Presidential Office reaffirms ROC sovereignty over Diaoyutais|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170009.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|access-date=18 February 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=17 February 2016|archive-date=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308082453/http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170009.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Hsu|first1=Stacy|title=Presidential Office blasts Lee over Diaoyutais claim|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/02/18/2003639638|access-date=18 February 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=18 February 2016|archive-date=18 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218072843/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/02/18/2003639638|url-status=live}} President-elect Tsai Ing-wen,{{cite news|last1=Yeh|first1=Sophia|last2=Chen|first2=Christie|title=Tsai refutes ex-president's controversial remarks on Diaoyutais|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170008.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|access-date=18 February 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=17 February 2016|archive-date=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308082243/http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170008.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|url-status=live}} and Yilan County fishermen.{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=Chao-yu|last2=Wang|first2=Cheng-chung|last3=Kao|first3=Evelyn|title=Ex-president's Diaoyutis remarks draw ire of fishermen|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170020.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|access-date=18 February 2016|agency=Central News Agency|date=17 February 2016|archive-date=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308082128/http://focustaiwan.tw/search/201602170020.aspx?q=Lee%20teng%20hui|url-status=live}}

On 22 June 2018, he visited Japan for the final time in his life.{{Cite web|url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3464910|title=Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui slams China at Japan event|last=Strong|first=Matthew|website=Taiwan News|date=23 June 2018|access-date=24 June 2018|archive-date=24 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624150308/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3464910|url-status=live}}

On 30 June 2011, Lee, along with former KMT financier Liu Tai-ying were indicted on graft and money-laundering charges and accused of embezzling US$7.79 million in public funds.[http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/07/01/308215/Ex-President-Lee.htm "Ex-President Lee Teng-hui indicted"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704005928/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2011/07/01/308215/Ex-President-Lee.htm |date=4 July 2011 }} China Post 1 July 2011.{{cite news|last1=Chao|first1=Vincent Y.|title=Indictment against Lee shocks pan-green camp|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/01/2003507121|access-date=7 September 2014|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=1 July 2011|archive-date=8 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908022419/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/01/2003507121|url-status=live}} He was acquitted by the Taipei District Court on 15 November 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/11/16/2003576979 |title=Court rules in favor of Lee Teng-hui in embezzlement case |author=Chang, Rich |date=16 November 2013 |work=Taipei Times |access-date=10 August 2014 |archive-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812211438/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/11/16/2003576979 |url-status=live }} Prosecutors appealed the ruling,{{cite news |url=http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT1/8794601.shtml |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140810150732/http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT1/8794601.shtml |archive-date=10 August 2014 |script-title=zh:國安密帳案 下月20日宣判 |trans-title=Ruling on 20th of Next Month in National Security Secret Account Case |author=鄧桂芬 |date=10 July 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 August 2014 }} but on 20 August 2014, Lee was cleared of the charges again.{{cite news|last1=Yang|first1=Kuo Wen|last2=Chen|first2=Hui-ping|last3=Pan|first3=Jason|title=Lee cleared of embezzlement, again|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/08/21/2003597902|access-date=21 August 2014|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=21 August 2014|archive-date=10 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710163459/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/08/21/2003597902|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Liu|first1=Shih-yi|last2=Yeh|first2=Sophia|last3=Hsu|first3=Elizabeth|title=Ex-president Lee found not guilty of corruption in retrial|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201408200041.aspx|access-date=20 August 2014|agency=Central News Agency|date=20 August 2014|archive-date=21 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821104547/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201408200041.aspx|url-status=live}}

File:TsengWenhui marriage.jpg dormitory]]

Lee and his wife were Presbyterian Christians.{{cite news|title=Lee Teng-hui, 97, Taiwan's First Democratically Elected President, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/world/asia/lee-teng-hui-dead.html|first=Jonathan|last=Kandell|date=30 July 2020|access-date=30 July 2020|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730123018/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/world/asia/lee-teng-hui-dead.html|url-status=live}}

Lee married Tseng Wen-hui on 9 February 1949,{{cite journal|last1=Jacobs|first1=J. Bruce|last2=Liu|first2=I-hao Ben|title=Lee Teng-Hui and the Idea of "Taiwan"|journal=The China Quarterly|issue=190|date=June 2007|volume=190|pages=375–393|doi=10.1017/S0305741007001245|jstor=20192775|s2cid=154384016}} with whom he had three children.{{cite news|title=Former president in Japan to visit energy facilities|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/09/20/2003600147|access-date=15 December 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=20 September 2014|archive-date=28 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928064616/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/09/20/2003600147|url-status=live}} Their firstborn son Lee Hsien-wen (c. 1950 – 21 March 1982){{cite book|last1=Tsai|first1=Shih-shan Henry|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|page=100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&q=lee+teng+hui+three+children&pg=PA100|access-date=18 October 2020|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412113525/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&q=lee+teng+hui+three+children&pg=PA100|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Tsai|first1=Shih-shan Henry|title=Lee Teng-Hui and Taiwan's Quest for Identity|date=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403977175|page=126|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge_FAAAAQBAJ&q=Lee+Hsien-wen&pg=PA126}} died of sinus cancer.{{cite news|last1=Lee|first1=Hsin-fang|last2=Chin|first2=Jonathan|title=Lee Teng-hui walks his granddaughter down aisle|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/12/16/2003634923|access-date=16 December 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=16 December 2015|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222102119/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/12/16/2003634923|url-status=live}} Daughters Anna and Annie, were born c. 1952 and c. 1954, respectively.

Shortly after stepping down from the presidency in 2000, Lee had coronary artery bypass surgery.{{cite news|last1=Lin|first1=Mei-chun|title=Ex-president Lee hospitalized with pneumonia and shoulder tendinitus|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/03/12/0000127332|access-date=6 May 2016|work=Taipei Times|date=12 March 2002|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329162936/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/03/12/0000127332|url-status=live}} In late 2011, he underwent surgery to remove stage II colon adenocarcinoma, the most common form of colon cancer.{{cite web |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/11/04/2003517416 |title=Lee Teng-hui 'recovering well': hospital |newspaper=Taipei Times |date=13 October 2013 |access-date=19 October 2013 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020112810/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/11/04/2003517416 |url-status=live }} Two years later, he had a stent implanted in his vertebral artery following an occlusion.{{cite news|last1=Hsu|first1=Stacy|title=Lee Teng-hui to stay in hospital following stroke|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/11/30/2003633652|access-date=30 November 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=30 November 2015|archive-date=3 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203044920/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/11/30/2003633652|url-status=live}} Lee was sent to Taipei Veterans General Hospital in November 2015 after experiencing numbness in his right hand, and later diagnosed with a minor stroke.{{cite news|last1=Lu|first1=Hsin-hui|last2=Hsu|first2=Elizabeth|title=Ex-President Lee Teng-hui suffers minor stroke|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201511290010.aspx|access-date=30 November 2015|agency=Central News Agency|date=29 November 2015|archive-date=30 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130203113/http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201511290010.aspx|url-status=live}} On 29 November 2018, he was rushed to Taipei Veterans General Hospital after falling and hitting his head.{{Cite web |date=29 November 2018 |title=快訊》李登輝家中跌倒頭部碰撞流血 送至榮總檢查中 | 政治 |trans-title=Breaking News: Lee Teng-hui falls at home, head hits and bleeds, sent to Veterans General Hospital for examination {{!}} Politics. |url=https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2018-11-29/173622 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129100544/https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2018-11-29/173622 |archive-date=29 November 2018 |access-date=29 November 2018 |website=新頭殼 Newtalk}} He was discharged from hospital on 31 January 2019, and President Tsai Ing-wen later visited him at his home.{{cite web |date=4 February 2019 |title= |script-title=zh:【李登輝跌倒】出院後首曝光 蔡英文祝願身體硬朗 |trans-title=[Lee Teng-hui Falls] First appearance after discharge from hospital, Tsai Ing-wen wishes him good health. |url=https://hk.news.appledaily.com/china/realtime/article/20190204/59223605 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124412/https://hk.news.appledaily.com/china/realtime/article/20190204/59223605 |archive-date=9 February 2019 |access-date=7 February 2019 |work=Apple Daily |language=zh-hk}} On 8 February 2020, Lee was hospitalised at Taipei Veterans General Hospital after choking while drinking milk and retained in the hospital under observation due to lung infection concerns.{{cite news|url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3880350|title=Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui making progress in pneumonia recovery|website=Taiwan News|date=24 February 2020|access-date=30 July 2020|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929081250/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3880350|url-status=live}} Later, he was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia caused by pulmonary infiltration, and was subsequently intubated.{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Ming-hsun |last2=Chang |first2=Liang-chih |last3=Mazzetta |first3=Matthew |last4=Huang |first4=Frances |title=Hospital rebuts Lee Teng-hui death rumors |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007290004 |access-date=30 July 2020 |agency=Central News Agency |date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730102901/https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007290004 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Lee Teng-hui in dire condition: hospital source |url=https://taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/07/30/2003740809 |access-date=30 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=30 July 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730214921/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/07/30/2003740809 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Death and funeral of Lee Teng-hui}}

File:2020.10.07 總統偕同副總統出席「李前總統登輝先生奉安禮拜」 (50430541621).jpg of Lee Teng-hui at the Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery]]

Lee died of multiple organ failure and septic shock at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on 7:24 pm, 30 July 2020, at the age of 97.{{cite news |last1=Lin |first1=Hui-chin |last2=Chung |first2=Jake |title=Former president Lee Teng-hui dies |url=https://taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/07/31/2003740871 |access-date=31 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=31 July 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801011557/https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/07/31/2003740871 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007300017|title=Lee Teng-hui dies; pivotal figure in Taiwan's transition to democracy|agency=Central News Agency|date=30 July 2020|access-date=30 July 2020|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731213100/https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007300017|url-status=live}} He had suffered from infections and cardiac problems since he was admitted to hospital in February.{{cite news|title=Former president who brought direct elections to Taiwan dies|url=https://apnews.com/341d243c8269412477f95238a78420ff|date=30 July 2020|access-date=30 July 2020|work=Associated Press|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731162043/https://apnews.com/341d243c8269412477f95238a78420ff|url-status=live}}

A state funeral was announced, while a memorial venue at the Taipei Guest House where people paid respects to Lee was opened to the public from 1 to 16 August 2020, after which Lee's body was cremated and his remains interred at Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery. All national flags at government institutions were placed at half-mast for three days.{{cite news|last1=Wen|first1=Kuei-hsiang|last2=Wang|first2=Cheng-chung|first3=Emerson|last3=Lim|title=Lee Teng-hui memorial to be open to public from Aug. 1–16|url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007310014|access-date=31 July 2020|agency=Central News Agency|date=31 July 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801135003/https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202007310014|url-status=live}}

Lee had the nickname "Mr. Democracy" and Taiwan's "Father of Democracy" for his actions to democratize Taiwanese government and his opposition to ruling Communists in China.{{cite web | last1=Blanchard | first1=Ben | last2=Lee | first2=Yimou | title=Taiwan's 'Mr Democracy' Lee Teng-hui championed island, defied China | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-lee-obituary/taiwans-mr-democracy-lee-teng-hui-championed-island-defied-china-idUSKCN24V2AF | date=30 July 2020 | work=Reuters | access-date=30 July 2020 | archive-date=30 July 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730185331/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-lee-obituary/taiwans-mr-democracy-lee-teng-hui-championed-island-defied-china-idUSKCN24V2AF | url-status=live }}{{cite news|first1=Lily|last1=Kuo|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/30/lee-teng-hui-taiwan-father-of-democracy-first-president-dies-aged-97|title=Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's 'father of democracy', dies aged 97|work=The Guardian|date=30 July 2020|access-date=30 July 2020|archive-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730162950/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/30/lee-teng-hui-taiwan-father-of-democracy-first-president-dies-aged-97|url-status=live}}

Kuomintang members still blame Lee for losing the political party's long-term rule of the country and believe that Lee's moves led to the fragmentation of the KMT.{{cite web|url=https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/08/18/lee-tung-huis-leadership-legacy/|title=Lee Tung-hui's leadership legacy|work=East Asia Forum|date=18 August 2021|access-date=20 August 2021|archive-date=20 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820062635/https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/08/18/lee-tung-huis-leadership-legacy/|url-status=live}} On the other hand, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) views Lee positively as a beacon of hope. The DPP had grown in strength under Lee's rule and he set a precedent by presiding over the first ever peaceful transition of power to an opposition party in 2000.

A November 2020 phone survey of 1,076 Taiwan citizens aged 18 and above which asked the question: "Which president, after Taiwan's democratisation, do you think has the best leadership? Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, Ma Ying-jeou, or Tsai Ing-wen?" revealed Lee topped the survey with 43 percent, with incumbent president Tsai on 32 percent, Ma on 18 percent and 6.6 percent for Chen.

• {{Flag|Taiwan}}:
• 60px Grand Cordon of the Order of Brilliant Jade{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

• {{flag|Burkina Faso}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the {{ill|Ordre de l'Étalon|fr|Ordre de l'Étalon}}, formerly National Order of Burkina Faso (July 1994)
• {{Flag|Central African Republic}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of Central African Merit (May 1992)
• {{Flag|Chad}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the National Order of Chad (October 1997)
• {{Flag|Dominican Republic}}:
• 60px Grand Cross with Gold Breast Star of the Order of Christopher Columbus (September 1999)
• {{Flag|Gambia}}:
• 60px Commander of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia (November 1996){{cite news |title=President Lee Confers Order on Gambia President |url=https://english.president.gov.tw/NEWS/970 |access-date=3 August 2023 |publisher=Office of the President (Taiwan) |date=21 November 1996}}
• {{Flag|Guatemala}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of the Quetzal (September 1985){{cite news |title=Vice President Lee's Central American Visit |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4&post=4778 |access-date=3 August 2023 |work=Free China Review |date=1 November 1985}}
• {{Flag|Guinea Bissau}}:
• 60px National Order of Merit, Cooperation and Development (October 1990)
• {{flag|Haiti}}:
• File:Orden Nacional de Honor y Mérito, Gran Cruz.svg Grand Cross of the National Order of Honour and Merit (April 1998)
• {{flag|Honduras}}:
• 60px Grand Cross with Gold Star of the Order of Francisco Morazán
• {{Flag|Liberia}}:
• 60px Grand Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption (November 1997)
• {{Flag|Nicaragua}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of Miguel Larreynaga
• {{Flag|Niger}}:
• 60px Grand Cross of the National Order of Niger (June 1994)
• {{Flag|Panama}}:
• 60px Collar of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero (October 1992)https://www.president.gov.tw/NEWS/23067
• {{flag|Paraguay}}:
• 60px Grand Collar of the National Order of Merit (June 1990)
• {{flag|South Africa}}:
• 60px Grand Officer of the Order of Good Hope (November 1991)
• 60px Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (September 1984)

• {{Cite book |last = Lee |first = Teng-hui |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=33q6AAAAIAAJ |title = Intersectoral Capital Flows in the Economic Development of Taiwan, 1895–1960 |publisher = Cornell University Press |year = 1971 |isbn = 978-0-8014-0650-8 |oclc = 1086842416 }}

• Understanding Taiwan: Bridging the Perception Gap, Foreign Affairs, November 1, 1999{{Cite news |last=Teng-hui |first=Lee |date=1999-11-01 |title=Understanding Taiwan: Bridging the Perception Gap |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/1999-11-01/understanding-taiwan-bridging-perception-gap |access-date=2024-05-26 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |volume=78 |issue=6 |issn=0015-7120}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last1=Dickson|first1=Bruce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZpUYDQAAQBAJ|title=Assessing the Lee Teng-hui Legacy in Taiwan's Politics: Democratic Consolidation and External Relations|last2=Chao|first2=Chien-Min|date=16 September 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-315-29039-3}}
• {{Cite news|last1=Falick|first1=Michael|title=America and Taiwan, 1943–2004|url=http://philip.pristine.net/formosa/falick.html|date=12 April 2004|access-date=12 November 2008|archive-date=20 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120143240/http://philip.pristine.net/formosa/falick.html|url-status=dead}}
• Matray, James I., ed. East Asia and the United States: an encyclopedia of relations since 1784. Vol. 1 ( Greenwood, 2002) 1:346–347.

{{Portal bar|Taiwan|Politics|Biography}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://www.ritouki.jp/ Friends of Lee Teng-Hui Association]
• [http://csis.org/files/media/csis/programs/taiwan/timeline/sums/timeline_docs/CSI_19950609.htm "Always in My Heart"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071743/http://csis.org/files/media/csis/programs/taiwan/timeline/sums/timeline_docs/CSI_19950609.htm |date=5 March 2016 }}—1995 lecture delivered at Cornell University Alumni Reunion
• [https://lthrc.nsysu.edu.tw/ NSYSU Lee Teng-hui Center for Governmental Studies]
• [https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/corpus/ Corpus of Political Speeches], publicly accessible with speeches from United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, provided by *[https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/digital/project.php Hong Kong Baptist University Library]

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{{S-ttl|title=Mayor of Taipei|years=9 June 1978–5 December 1981}}

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{{S-ttl|title=Governor of Taiwan Province|years=5 December 1981–20 May 1984}}

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{{S-ttl|title=President of the Republic of China|years=13 January 1988–20 May 2000}}

{{S-aft|after=Chen Shui-bian}}

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{{S-bef|before=Chiang Ching-kuo}}

{{S-ttl|title=Chairman of the Kuomintang|years=1988–2000}}

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{{S-ttl|title=Kuomintang nominee for President of the Republic of China|years=1996}}

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{{Presidents of the Republic of China}}

{{Vice Presidents of the Republic of China}}

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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Teng-hui}}

Category:1923 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:20th-century presidents in Asia

Category:20th-century Taiwanese economists

Category:20th-century Taiwanese politicians

Category:Academic staff of the National Chengchi University

Category:Academic staff of the National Taiwan University

Category:Agricultural economists

Category:Chairpersons of the Kuomintang

Category:Chairpersons of the Taiwan Provincial Government

Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians

Category:Comfort women denial

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Deaths from sepsis

Category:Expelled members of the Kuomintang

Category:Former Marxists

Category:Hakka scientists

Category:Heads of government who were later imprisoned

Category:Imperial Japanese Army officers

Category:Imperial Japanese Army personnel of World War II

Category:Iowa State University alumni

Category:Kuomintang presidential nominees

Category:Kyoto University alumni

Category:Mayors of Taipei

Category:Nanjing Massacre deniers

Category:National Taiwan University alumni

Category:People from Yongding District, Longyan

Category:Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from New Taipei

Category:Presidents of the Republic of China on Taiwan

Category:Taiwan Solidarity Union politicians

Category:Taiwanese agriculturalists

Category:Taiwanese anti-communists

Category:Taiwanese collaborators with Imperial Japan

Category:Taiwanese politicians of Hakka descent

Category:Taiwanese Presbyterians

Category:Vice presidents of the Republic of China on Taiwan