Chiang Ching-kuo - Presidency

Presidency

Chiang was officially elected President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly after the term of President Yen Chia-kan on May 20, 1978. He was reelected to another term in 1984. At that time, the National Assembly consisted mostly of "thousand year" legislators, men who had been elected in 1947-48 before the fall of mainland China and who would hold their seats indefinitely.

During the early years of his term in office Chiang maintained many of his father's autocratic policies, continuing to rule Taiwan as a military state under martial law as it had been since the Nationalists established its capital there.

In a move that broke from his father's domineering industrial and economic policies, Ching-kuo launched the "Fourteen Major Construction Projects", the "Ten Major Construction Projects" and the "Twelve New Development Projects" which contributed to the "Taiwan Miracle." Among his accomplishments were accelerating the process of economic modernization to give Taiwan a 13% growth rate, $4,600 per capita income, and the world's second largest foreign exchange reserves.

However, in December 1978, U.S. President, Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would no longer recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of China. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States would continue to sell weapons to Taiwan, but the TRA was purposely vague in any promise of defending Taiwan in the event of an invasion. The United States would now end all official contact with the Chiang's government and withdraw its troops from the island.

In an effort of bringing more Taiwan-born citizens into government services, Chiang Ching-kuo "exiled" his over-ambitious chief of General Political Warfare Department, General Wang Sheng, to Paraguay as an ambassador (November 1983), and hand-picked Lee Teng-hui as vice-president of the Republic of China (formally elected May 1984), first-in-the-line of succession to the presidency.

In 1987, Chiang finally ended martial law and allowed family visits to the Mainland China. His administration saw a gradual loosening of political controls and opponents of the Nationalists were no longer forbidden to hold meetings or publish papers. Opposition political parties, though still illegal, were allowed to form without harassment or arrest. When the Democratic Progressive Party was established in 1986, President Chiang decided against dissolving the group or persecuting its leaders, but its candidates officially ran in elections as independents in the Tangwai movement.