Lien Chan | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
連戰 | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
| 7th Vice President of the Republic of China | |||||||||||||
| In office May 20, 1996 – May 20, 2000 | |||||||||||||
| President | Lee Teng-hui | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lee Yuan-tsu | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Annette Lu | ||||||||||||
| Premier of the Republic of China | |||||||||||||
| In office February 27, 1993 – August 31, 1997 | |||||||||||||
| President | Lee Teng-hui | ||||||||||||
| Vice Premier | Hsu Li-teh | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Hau Pei-tsun | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Vincent Siew | ||||||||||||
| 3rdChairman of the Kuomintang | |||||||||||||
| In office March 24, 2000 – August 19, 2005 | |||||||||||||
| Deputy | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lee Teng-hui | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ma Ying-jeou | ||||||||||||
| Governor ofTaiwan Province | |||||||||||||
| In office June 16, 1990 – February 25, 1993 | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Chiu Chuang-huan | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | James Soong | ||||||||||||
| 10thMinister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||||||
| In office July 20, 1988 – June 1, 1990 | |||||||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ting Mao-shih | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Fredrick Chien | ||||||||||||
| Vice Premier of the Republic of China | |||||||||||||
| In office May 1, 1987 – July 22, 1988 | |||||||||||||
| Premier | Yu Kuo-hwa | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lin Yang-kang | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Shih Chi-yang | ||||||||||||
| 11thMinister of Transportation and Communications | |||||||||||||
| In office December 1, 1981 – April 23, 1987 | |||||||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lin Chin-sheng | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kuo Nan-hong [zh] | ||||||||||||
| Chair ofNational Youth Commission | |||||||||||||
| In office August 1, 1978 – November 30, 1981 | |||||||||||||
| Premier | Sun Yun-suan | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Wang Wei-nong | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kao Ming-hui | ||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1936-08-27)August 27, 1936 (age 88) Xi'an,Shaanxi,Republic of China | ||||||||||||
| Political party | Kuomintang | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||
| Relations | Sean Lien(Son),Arlene Lien(Daughter) | ||||||||||||
| Education | |||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Chinese | 連戰 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Lien Chan (Chinese:連戰; born August 27, 1936) is a Taiwanesepolitical scientist and politician. He was the chairman of theTaiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993,premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997,vice president of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the chairman of theKuomintang (KMT) from 2000 to 2005, apart from various ministerial posts he had also held.
After graduating fromNational Taiwan University, Lien earned a master's degree andPhD from theUniversity of Chicago in the United States. He ran for thePresident of the Republic of China on behalf of the Kuomintang twice in 2000 and 2004, but both lost toChen Shui-bian of theDemocratic Progressive Party. Upon his retirement as KMT Chairman in August 2005, he was given the title Honorary Chairman of KMT.
Lien is highly credited after holding agroundbreaking visit to mainland China in his capacity as theChairman of the Kuomintang to meet with theGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyHu Jintao on April 29, 2005, the first meeting between the two party leaders after the end ofChinese Civil War in 1949, which subsequently helped thaw the long-stalledcross-strait relations.[1]
Lien Chan was born at Jenkins and Robertson Hospital inXi'an,Shaanxi province,China as the only child of Taiwanese fatherLien Chen-tung and mainland Chinese mother Chao Lan-k'un (趙蘭坤).[2] His paternal grandfather,Lien Heng, was the writer ofThe General History of Taiwan (臺灣通史), a book that is often cited for the quote, "Taiwan's sorrow is that it has no history."His father, Lien Chen-tung, served as Minister of the Interior from 1960 to 1966, promoting local autonomy and maintaining close ties with theCC Clique. His mother, Zhao Lankun, came from a prominent family in Shenyang and had Manchu ancestry. She graduated fromYenching University.
Lien earned abachelor's degree inpolitical science from theNational Taiwan University in 1957 and then pursued graduate studies in the United States, where he earned aMaster of Arts (1961) in international law and diplomacy and aPh.D. (1965) from theUniversity of Chicago. He married former Miss Republic of ChinaFang Yu the same year he received his doctorate.[3] Lien is also currently a Trustee Emeritus on theBoard of Trustees to the University of Chicago.[4]
Lien held assistant professorships of political science at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison from 1966 to 1967 and theUniversity of Connecticut from 1967 to 1968. He returned to Taiwan in 1968 to become visiting professor of political science at the National Taiwan University, serving as chairman of the Political Science Department and dean of the Graduate Institute of Political Science the following year.
His official positions included Ambassador toEl Salvador (1975–1976),Minister of Transportation and Communications (1981–1987), Vice Premier (1987–1988), Foreign Minister (1988–1990) before becoming Governor ofTaiwan Province (1990–1993).[5] In 1993 he was appointedPremier of the Republic of China. In 1996,Lee Teng-hui selected him asrunning mate in the presidential election. Lee and Lien won the election for the presidency and the vice-presidency respectively. Before becoming Chairman of the KMT, he was Vice Chairman (1993–2000) and a member of the Central Committee (1984–2000).
During his term in office, Lien was credited for having established National Health Insurance, which is the national health insurance policy for all citizens of the Republic of China. It ranks as one of the best national health plans in the world and modeled by other nations who seek to have a national health coverage for other citizens. He spearheaded the constructions of Cross-Island Highway (橫貫公路), a series of highways that connected the eastern side of the island to the western side of the island. Taiwan is dominated by the Central Mountain Range which cordons off the east from the west. In order to go to the eastern side from the western side, one had to circle the island to reach their destinations before the highways were constructed. After Lien constructed these highways, traffic back-and-forth between the east and west of the island was much more efficient. He also began the reconstruction to the Military dependents’ villages (眷村) which were temporary shelters designated for the military personnel and their families when the Kuomintang (KMT) first moved to Taiwan. There are over 879 of these Military dependents’ villages which housing nearly 100,000 households within. Most of this housing was temporary shelter and were constructed during the period between 1945 and 1950s to house the military personnel as the KMT retreated to Taiwan. Half a century later when it became clear that reunification with mainland China under the terms of the Republic of China would not be possible, it became obvious that the housing for the military personnel would have to be reconstructed.
Throughout Lien's term as Foreign Minister and through his premiership, about 30 countries had diplomatic relations with Republic of China (Taiwan), this was the highest number of diplomatic relations since Republic of China was expelled from the United Nations in 1972 and severed diplomatic relations with the United States in 1976. Lien also established diplomatic relations with Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Grenada, Belize, Republic of Guinea-Bissau and reestablished diplomatic relations with Kingdom of Lesotho, Republic of Liberia and the Republic of Nicaragua.
Lien also established the foundations for the Internet in Taiwan via research centers established under the National Science Council (國家科學委員會). Furthermore, he liberalized the telecommunications network which allowed for multiple players to compete and ushered in the mobile service era in the Telecommunications sector. He also revised and deregulated the regulation on cable television sector that allowed for multiple players in the television and cable sectors. These policies made Taiwan the most liberal area in Asia for Media.
For the purpose of developing Taiwan as an economic hub in the Asia-Pacific, Lien espoused a platform called the “Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center” because Taiwan has two natural deep water harbors, one is Keelung and second one is Kaohsiung, shipments from all over the world would transport and transfer in these harbors before heading to Japan, Korea, China or Southeast Asia. However, due to Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) “two state solution” (兩國論), a theory advocated for China and Taiwan to engage in a special "state to state relationship", mainland China was deeply angered, therefore Taiwan became increasingly marginalized.
Lien took an active role as a representative ofLee Teng-hui in quasi-official diplomacy in the mid-1990s. One of the greatest moments of his career is his 1995 meeting withVáclav Havel, in which Lien likened the democratic reforms of the Lee Teng-hui administration as being similar to theVelvet Revolution.
After the defeat of the KMT in 2000, Lien assume the leadership of the KMT. As the Chairman of the KMT, Lien vowed to learn from his loss and remake the KMT party. He held forums to discuss erasing the KMT's image as a corrupt institution and Lien promised to give up property seized by the KMT after the Japanese exodus.
The Pan-Blue reunited in the election of 2004 with Lien and Soong running on a combined ticket against DPP's Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu. Chen Shui-bian was the incumbent and was trailing 13% behind in the polls before ballot day. Then, out of nowhere came two bullets, one barely grazing Chen's belly and another one grazing Annette Lu's knee. Immediately the DPP-control government suspended all election activities and prohibited all servicemen, policeman and security workers to return home to vote. The servicemen are typically Pan-Blue voters and number of service men affected was roughly 350,000. The DPP Secretary General of the President's office Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) immediately came out on media to announce that there was an assassination attempt on the DPP candidates Chen and Lu and accused the KMT of collaborating with the Chinese Communists Party to assassinate Taiwan's president. Lien lost that election by 0.228% margin, a mere 29,518 votes out of a total of 12,914,422 (12 million nine hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and twenty two) ballots cast. Both Chen and Lu were released from the hospital on the same day and went to vote on the next day. Neither one had life-threatening injury nor did they lose consciousness or had a surgery. Rather, alleged assassin Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) was killed and his body was found ten days later ditched into a pond near where he lives. His body was formally dressed in suite and tie and entangled in a fishnet.
This incident sparked mass riots and controversy because it was believed that the shooting was staged in order to gain sympathy votes for Chen and Lu who won by a sliver of a margin. Hence the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee was established.
On January 31, 2008, the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee concluded its investigation into the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), and raised questions about whether the shooting was a staged event. "We have compared all of the evidence and clues through interviews and reconstructed the scene. Although the truth of the event remains unclear, the "truth" that government publicized and the evidence don't match," committee convener Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) told reporters. The report also suggested that Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), whom the authorities identified as the shooter, was murdered instead of committing suicide when he was found dead 10 days after the incident.
In 2005, after Ma was elected as KMT chairman to succeed Lien, the KMT Central Committee offered the title of "Chairman Emeritus" (Honorary Chairman) to Lien.
In December 2010, Lien was awarded theConfucius Peace Prize in China, which was instituted as a reaction to theNobel Peace Prize awarded toLiu Xiaobo. Lien's office said to theTaipei Times: “We've never heard of such an award and of course Mr Lien has no plans to accept it.”[6]
On April 26, 2005, Lien Chan traveled tomainland China to meet with the leaders of theChinese Communist Party (CCP). His meeting withCommunist Party general secretaryHu Jintao was the highest level exchange sinceChiang Kai-shek andMao Zedong met inChongqing on August 28, 1945, to celebrate the victory in theSecond Sino-Japanese War and discuss a possible truce in the impendingChinese Civil War.
On April 27, Lien visited theSun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. On April 28, he arrived in Beijing.
On the afternoon of April 29, he met with PRCParamount leaderHu Jintao (in his capacity asGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party).
Before meeting with Hu on April 29, Lien Chan delivered a speech atPeking University, which his 96-year-old mother Chao Lan-k'un attended nearly 80 years ago. On April 30, he headed to his birthplaceXi'an. He revisitedHouzaimen Primary School, which he attended 60 years ago. He also visited the Great Mausoleum ofQin Shi Huang, China's first emperor. Early on May 1, he paid homage to his grandmother's tomb near Qingliangsi.
Later that day, Lien arrived inShanghai, where he attended a banquet hosted by Shanghai CCP Party Secretary GeneralChen Liangyu. On May 2, he met withWang Daohan, the 90-year-old chairman of the mainland-basedAssociation for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and the representatives of Taiwanese businesspeople. He returned to Taiwan at noon on May 3.
In October 2005, Lien made his second visit to the mainland. He visitedShenyang,Liaoning to pay homage to his maternal grandmother's tomb at Lansheng Village and the school where his mother studied.[citation needed]
In April 2006, Lien departed to mainland China to visitFujian. He paid tribute to his ancestors inZhangzhou and received an honorary doctor's degree fromXiamen University inXiamen.[7]
On April 11, 2006, Lien arrived inHangzhou,Zhejiang. He was welcomed byXia Baolong, deputy secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Committee of theChinese Communist Party at theHangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport. In Hangzhou, Lien met with provincial government leaders and visited theWest Lake.
Two days later, Lien visited Beijing to attend the firstCross-Straits Economic Trade and Culture Forum. Lien met with CCP general secretaryHu Jintao at the forum, where both underscored the peaceful development of relations between the two sides.[8]
In April 2010, Lien visitedShanghai to attend the opening ceremony of theShanghai World Expo 2010.[9]
In February 2013, Lien visited Beijing to meet withXi Jinping, the newly electedGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Lien also met withYu Zhengsheng (chairman-designate of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference),Wang Huning (member of thePolitburo of the CCP),Li Zhanshu (chief of theGeneral Office of the CCP),Dai Bingguo (state councilor of the PRC),Wang Yi (director of theTaiwan Affairs Office of the State Council),Chen Yunlin andZheng Lizhong (president and vice president ofARATS).[10]
Lien and his wifeLien Fang Yu also visitedBeijing Aerospace Command and Control Center and met withLiu Wang,Liu Yang andJing Haipeng, astronauts of theShenzhou 9.[11]
Lien and delegates from 80 business leaders and civil group representatives, including formerTaiwan Solidarity Union ChairmanShu Chin-chiang, visited Beijing on 17 February to meet withZhang Zhijun, the head ofTaiwan Affairs Office, and on 18 February withXi Jinping,General Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyCCP Central Committee, at theDiaoyutai State Guesthouse for non-governmental exchanges.[12] This 3-day trip came after the invitation from theChinese Communist Party.[13][14]
Lien was invited to a Chinese military parade marking the end of theSecond Sino–Japanese War in September 2015. During the visit, Lien asked Beijing to strongly consider supporting ROC PresidentMa Ying-jeou's East China Sea Peace Initiative.
Lien was selected by PresidentMa Ying-jeou asspecial envoy to represent the Republic of China (participating asChinese Taipei) at theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2008–2012.
While at APEC, Lien also met with Chinese Communist Party general secretaryHu Jintao, the highest level of official exchange between the Mainland and Taiwan on the international stage at that time.[15]
Hisfamily name is Lien; hisgiven name is Chan. "Chan" means "battles" and his full name literally means "successive battles." The name originated from Lien Heng who wrote to his pregnant daughter-in-law inXi'an:
China andJapan will battle inevitably. If the child born is aboy, name him Lien Chan, signifying that the strength coming from within oneself will never diminish and can overcome the enemies and be victorious. It also has the meaning of reviving the formernation, reorganizing thelight andhope of ourhomeland.
— 『中、日必將一戰，如生男則名連戰，寓有自強不息，克敵制勝，有復興故國、重整家園光明希望。』
Lien Chan was descended from a family of literati. His family arrived in Taiwan during the Emperor Kang Xi era and had settled in Tainan residing in an area called Ma Bing Ying; which was the former training ground of the Zheng Cheng Gung forces in his campaign against the Dutch. Lien's family harvested sugar on their plantations for generations. Lien's grandmother's family were also wealthy merchants who traded camphor and sugar. Lien ‘s mother, Chao Lan Kun came from a wealthy Shenyang family, and is credited for having preserve the family wealth throughout the turbulent times of post-Japanese colonization.
Lien is married toLien Fang Yu. They have two sons,Sean Lien and Lien Sheng-Wu (連勝武), and two daughters, Lien Hui-Hsin (連惠心) and Lien Yong-Hsin (連詠心).[16]
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chair ofNational Youth Commission 1978–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ministry of Transportation and Communications 1981–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice Premier of the Republic of China 1987–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1988–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor ofTaiwan Province 1990–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Premier of the Republic of China 1993–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice President of the Republic of China 1996–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Kuomintang nominee forPresident of the Republic of China 2000,2004 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of the Kuomintang 2000–2005 | ||
Names in brackets indicate accompanying candidate for theVice Presidency. Winners shown inbold. |
| Beiyang government (1913–1928) |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Constitutional government indirect elections(1948–1996) | ||
| Constitutional government direct elections(since 1996) | ||
| History |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Founders |
| |
| Ideology | ||
| Leaders | ||
| Party congress | ||
| Leadership elections | ||
| Significant venues | ||
| See also | ||
Notes: Acting leadersitalicised ; By-elections denoted with (b) | ||
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