The existing office was created in 1948 under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China.
When the Republic of China was founded in 1912, Sun Yat-sen was elected as the first "provisional president" (臨時大總統) by the provisional Senate, ending thousands of years of imperial rule in China. Sun Yat-sen soon resigned from the office in favor of Yuan Shikai, who formally assumed the office of "President" (大總統, literally "Great President", in contrast with the omission of 'great' in the current title) in 1913. The 1913 Constitution called for a strong presidential system with notable checks on the president by the National Assembly. However, Yuan soon began to assert dictatorial power, ignoring the National Assembly and later abolishing it altogether. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China in a largely unpopular move and was forced to retract his declaration shortly before his death in 1916.
With Yuan Shikai's death the Warlord Era began. Vice President Li Yuanhong succeeded Yuan as president and attempted to reassert the constitutional government, but was soon forced to resign by military strongmen. The presidency, though leading an internationally recognized government, was thereafter to be headed by a series of prominent warlords. This presidency ended in 1928 when the Northern Expedition, led by the Kuomintang (KMT) , succeeded in conquering North China.
The president is currently selected by a plurality voting direct election of the areas administered by the Republic of China for a term of four years. Before 1991, the president was selected by the National Assembly of the Republic of China for a term of six years.
The Constitution names the president as head of state and commander-in-chief of the military of the Republic of China. The president is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace. The president must promulgate all laws and has no right to veto. Other powers of the president include granting amnesty, pardon or clemency, declaring martial law, and conferring honors and decorations.
The President can appoint Senior Advisors (資政) and National Policy Advisors (國策顧問), but they do not form a council.
Constitution of the Republic of China gives a short list of persons who will succeed to the presidency if the office of the President of the Republic of China were to become vacant. According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, Article 2:
Should the office of the vice president become vacant, the president shall nominate a candidate(s) within three months, and the Legislative Yuan shall elect a new vice president, who shall serve the remainder of the original term until its expiration.
Should the offices of both the president and the vice president become vacant, the president of the Executive Yuan shall exercise the official powers of the president and the vice president. A new president and a new vice president shall be elected in accordance with Paragraph 1 of this article and shall serve out each respective original term until its expiration. The pertinent provisions of Article 49 of the Constitution shall not apply.
As no president of the Executive Yuan (also known as the Premier) has ever succeeded to the presidency under these provisions (or their predecessors, under Article 49), it is untested whether, should the office of the premier be vacant as well, whether, pursuant to the Additional Articles, Article 3, the vice president of the Executive Yuan (vice premier), who would be acting premier, would act as president. There is currently no constitutional provision for a succession list beyond the possibility that the vice president of the Executive Yuan might succeed to the presidency.
Assuming that the vice president of the Executive Yuan would be third in line for the presidency, the current line of succession is:
Vincent Siew, Vice President of the Republic of China.
Wu Den-yih, President of the Executive Yuan
Sean Chen, Vice President of the Executive Yuan
Presidential succession has occurred three times under the 1947 Constitution:
President Chiang Kai-shek resigned on 21 January 1949 amid several Communist victories in the Chinese Civil War and was replaced by Vice President Li Tsung-jen as Acting President. However, Chiang continued to wield authority as Director-General of the Kuomintang and Commander of the National Revolutionary Army. Li Tsung-jen lost the ensuing power struggle and fled to the United States in November 1949. Chiang evacuated with the government to Taiwan in December 1949 and resumed his duties on 1 March 1950.
President Chiang Kai-shek died on 5 April 1975 and was replaced by Vice President Yen Chia-kan who served out the remainder of the term.
President Chiang Ching-kuo died on 13 January 1988 and was replaced by Vice President Lee Teng-hui who served out the remainder of the term and won two more terms on his own right.
The diplomatic protocol regarding the President of the ROC is rather complex because of the anomalous political status of Taiwan. In the 23 nations which recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of China, he is accorded the standard treatment that is given to a head of state. In other nations, he is formally a private citizen, although even in these cases, travel usually meets with strong objections from the People's Republic of China.
The President of ROC has traveled several times to the United States, formally in transit to and from Central America, where a number of countries do recognize the ROC. This system allows the President to visit the United States without the U.S. State Department having to issue a visa. During these trips, the President is not formally treated as a head of state, does not meet U.S. government officials in their official capacities, and does not visit Washington, D.C. However, in these visits, the ROC President invariably meets with staff members from the US government, although these visits are with lower ranking officials in non-governmental surroundings.
In the case of Southeast Asia, the ROC President was able to arrange visits in the early 1990s which were formally private tourist visits, however these have become increasingly infrequent as a result of PRC pressure.
At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit, the ROC President is forbidden from attending personally and must send a special envoy to represent him at the event.
The PRC does not recognise the existence of the ROC. Until the late 1980s PRC used quotation marks around terms for all official ROC positions and organisations such as "President" and "government" to imply non-recognition, a practice that was reciprocated by the ROC. Since the mid-1990s, the standard practice used of the PRC press has been to refer to ROC government as the "Taiwan authority" (traditional Chinese: 臺灣當局; simplified Chinese: 台湾当局) and the ROC President as the "leader of the Taiwan Area" (traditional Chinese: 臺灣地區領導人; simplified Chinese: 台湾地区领导人), where both terms are not used in conjunction with quotation marks.
[edit]Living former Presidents of the Republic of China
Candidates for President must be citizens of ROC who has reached 40 years of age, has set their domicile in the ROC for not less than 15 years and lived in the free regions of the ROC for not less than 6 consecutive months. Naturalised citizens, residents of Hong Kong, Macao or the People's Republic of China, soldiers and election officials are not eligible.
The President and Vice President are nominated on a joint ticket. A party which has gained at least 5% of the votes at the last presidential or legislature election may nominate a set of candidates. (For the 2012 elections, only the KMT and DPP are eligible to nominate candidates under this method.) Alternatively, candidates may be nominated by a petition signed by eligible voters numbering no less than 1.5% of electors at the last legislature election. (This equals 252,848 signatures for the 2012 election.)
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