Democratic Transition
1917–2010
Lee Huan was born in Hubei in 1917 and graduated from the Central Political Institute. After 1949 he became one of Chiang Ching-kuo's most trusted lieutenants, running the China Youth Corps and the Kuomintang's youth and organisational work for years; a generation of the party's local cadres passed through his hands.
After the Zhongli Incident of 1977, when the party did badly in the elections, he stepped down as head of the party's organisation department and took the blame. He turned to education, became the founding president of National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung in 1980, and Minister of Education in 1984.
In 1987 he returned to party headquarters as secretary-general. When Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988 the party was divided over whether Lee Teng-hui should act as chairman; Lee Huan handled it by the agenda, and Lee Teng-hui cleared the first hurdle. In 1989 Lee Huan became premier, but he and Lee Teng-hui drifted apart. In the February 1990 power struggle he was at the centre of the non-mainstream faction, and that May Hau Pei-tsun replaced him as premier.
He died in Taipei in 2010, aged ninety-three.
1977 Resigned as KMT organisation chief after the Zhongli Incident
1989 Became premier; replaced after the 1990 power struggle
Lee Huan
KMT Secretary-General and Premier
Era
Democratic Transition
Lifespan
1917–2010
Lee Huan was born in Hubei in 1917 and graduated from the Central Political Institute. After 1949 he became one of Chiang Ching-kuo's most trusted lieutenants, running the China Youth Corps and the Kuomintang's youth and organisational work for years; a generation of the party's local cadres passed through his hands.
After the Zhongli Incident of 1977, when the party did badly in the elections, he stepped down as head of the party's organisation department and took the blame. He turned to education, became the founding president of National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung in 1980, and Minister of Education in 1984.
In 1987 he returned to party headquarters as secretary-general. When Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988 the party was divided over whether Lee Teng-hui should act as chairman; Lee Huan handled it by the agenda, and Lee Teng-hui cleared the first hurdle. In 1989 Lee Huan became premier, but he and Lee Teng-hui drifted apart. In the February 1990 power struggle he was at the centre of the non-mainstream faction, and that May Hau Pei-tsun replaced him as premier.
He died in Taipei in 2010, aged ninety-three.
1977 Resigned as KMT organisation chief after the Zhongli Incident
1989 Became premier; replaced after the 1990 power struggle