Lien Chan

Lien Chan (Chinese: 連戰; born August 27, 1936) is a Taiwanese political scientist and politician. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he nominally governed Taiwan as the head of the Taiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993 and served as Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2000 to 2005.

Lien was born in China to a prominent Taiwanese family of intellectuals. After graduating from National Taiwan University, he earned his doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago in 1965 and began an academic career in the United States as a professor at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Connecticut. Upon returning to Taiwan in 1968, he became a professor at National Taiwan University, entered politics, and held multiple ministerial and executive offices.

During the 1990s, Lien was a close aide of President Lee Teng-hui and introduced several of Lee's constitutional reforms. He ran for the presidency on behalf of the Kuomintang twice, but lost both times in 2000 and 2004 to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party. As party chairman, he was highly credited for holding a groundbreaking visit to mainland China to meet Chinese leader Hu Jintao in 2005, the first meeting between party leaders of the KMT and the CCP since the end of the Chinese Civil War. The event was considered significant for encouraging cross-strait relations.