Chen Shui-bian

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Chen Shui-bian
陳水扁
Official portrait, 2000
5th President of the Republic of China
In office 20 May 2000 – 20 May 2008
Premier	See list Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung (1st) Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang Chang Chun-hsiung (2nd)
Vice President	Annette Lu
Preceded by	Lee Teng-hui
Succeeded by	Ma Ying-jeou
9th and 12th Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party
In office 15 October 2007 – 12 January 2008
Secretary General	Cho Jung-tai
Preceded by	Yu Shyi-kun
Succeeded by	Frank Hsieh (acting)
In office 21 July 2002 – 11 December 2004
Secretary General	Chang Chun-hsiung
Preceded by	Frank Hsieh
Succeeded by	Ker Chien-ming (acting)
10th Mayor of Taipei
In office 25 December 1994 – 25 December 1998
Preceded by	Huang Ta-chou (as appointed mayor)
Succeeded by	Ma Ying-jeou
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office 1 February 1990 – 25 December 1994
Constituency	Taipei I
Taipei City Councillor
In office 25 December 1981 – 28 September 1985
Constituency	Taipei II (Songshan, Neihu, Nangang)
Personal details
Born	(1950-10-12) 12 October 1950 (age 73) Guantian District, Tainan County, Taiwan (now Tainan)
Political party	Democratic Progressive (1987–2008, 2013-2019, since 2020-)
Other political affiliations	Independent (1979–1987, 2008–2013) Taiwan Action Party Alliance (2019-2020)
Spouse	Wu Shu-chen ​ (m. 1975)​
Residence(s)	Gushan District, Kaohsiung
Alma mater	National Taiwan University (LLB)
Occupation	Lawyer politician writer
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	陳水扁
Simplified Chinese	陈水扁
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Shuǐbiǎn Wade–Giles Chen2 Shui3-pien3 Tongyong Pinyin Chén Shuěi-biǎn IPA [ʈʂʰə̌n ʂwěɪ.pjɛ̀n] Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tân Chúi-píⁿ

Chen Shui-bian (Chinese: 陳水扁; Wade–Giles: Chen Shü’i-bian; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Chúi-píⁿ; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the 5th president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which ended the Kuomintang's (KMT) 55 years of continuous rule in Taiwan. He is sometimes referred to by the nickname A-Bian (阿扁).

A lawyer, Chen entered politics in 1980 during the Kaohsiung Incident as a member of the Tangwai movement and was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981. He was jailed in 1985 for libel as the editor of the weekly pro-democracy magazine Neo-Formosa, following publication of an article critical of Elmer Fung, a college philosophy professor who was later elected a New Party legislator. After being released, Chen helped found the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986 and was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1989, and Mayor of Taipei in 1994.

Chen won the 2000 presidential election on 18 March with 39% of the vote as a result of a split of factions within the Kuomintang, when James Soong ran for the presidency as an independent against the party nominee Lien Chan, becoming the first non-member of the Kuomintang to hold the office of president. Although Chen received high approval ratings during the first few weeks of his term, his popularity sharply dropped due to alleged corruption within his administration and the inability to pass legislation against the opposition KMT, who controlled the Legislative Yuan. In 2004, he won reelection by a narrow margin after surviving a shooting while campaigning the day before the election. Opponents suspected him of staging the incident for political purposes. However, the case was officially closed in 2005 with all evidence pointing to a single deceased suspect, Chen Yi-hsiung.

In 2009, Chen and his wife Wu Shu-chen were convicted on two bribery charges. Chen was sentenced to 19 years in Taipei Prison, reduced from a life sentence on appeal, but was granted medical parole on 5 January 2015.^[1][2][3] Chen's supporters have claimed that his trial and sentencing were politically motivated retribution by the Kuomintang for his years in power.^[4][5][6]