Chen Shui-bian (born October 12, 1950) is a former Taiwanese politician who was president from 2000 to 2008. Chen's election ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang (KMT) control of the Executive Yuan in Taiwan. A native-born Taiwanese, he is colloquially referred to as A-Bian (阿扁; Ābiǎn; Taiwanese: 阿扁仔 A-píⁿ-à).
A lawyer, Chen entered politics in 1980 during the Kaohsiung Incident as a member of the Tangwai movement and was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981. He was jailed in 1985 for libel as the editor of the weekly pro-democracy magazine Neo-Formosa, following publication of an article critical of Elmer Feng, a college philosophy professor who was later elected a Kuomintang legislator. After being released, Chen helped found the DPP in 1986 and was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1989, and Mayor of Taipei in 1994.
Chen won the 2000 presidential election on March 18 with 39% of the vote as a result of a split of factions within the Kuomintang, when James Soong ran for the presidency as an independent against the party nominee Lien Chan, becoming the only non-member of the Kuomintang to hold the office of president. Although Chen received high approval ratings during the first few weeks of his term, his popularity sharply dropped due to alleged corruption within his administration and the inability to pass legislation against the opposition KMT, who controlled the Legislative Yuan. In 2004, he won reelection by a narrow margin after surviving a shooting while campaigning the day before the election. Opponents suspected him of staging the incident for political purposes. However, the case was officially closed in 2005 with all evidence pointing to a single deceased suspect, Chen Yi-hsiung.
Convicted, along with his wife Wu Shu-chen, on two bribery charges, he is currently serving a 19-year sentence in Taipei Prison, reduced from a life sentence. Supporters have insisted that his trial was unfair and politically motivated, retribution by the Kuomintang for his years in power.
Read more about Chen Shui-bian: Early Years, Entry Into Politics, Taipei Mayoralty, 1994–1998, Family Scandals, Post-presidency, Health, Political Positions