Lai Ching-te (DPP) Hsiao Bi-khim (DPP) Cho Jung-tai (DPP) 11th Legislative Yuan Han Kuo-yu (KMT) Shieh Ming-yan acting Vacant Vacant Vacant Control Yuan Chen Chu Lee Hung-chun Local government Central Election Commission Kuomintang Democratic Progressive Party Taiwan People's Party Others New Power Party Taiwan Statebuilding Party People First Party Taiwan Solidarity Union New Party Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Newspapers United Daily News Liberty Times China Times Taipei Times Propaganda Censorship Film censorship Lin Chia-lung Cross-Strait relations Special state-to-state relations One Country on Each Side 1992 Consensus Taiwan consensus Chinese Taipei Australia–Taiwan relations Canada–Taiwan relations France–Taiwan relations Russia–Taiwan relations Taiwan–United Kingdom relations Taiwan–United States relations Republic of China (1912–1949) Chinese Civil War One-China policy China and the United Nations Chinese unification Taiwan independence movement Taiwanese nationalism Tangwai movement The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces.

Before 1949 the position had the authority of ruling over Mainland China, but after communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the remaining jurisdictions of the ROC have been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and smaller islands.

The president is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace.

Other powers of the president include granting amnesty, pardon or clemency, declaring martial law, and conferring honors and decorations.

The president may, by resolution of the Executive Yuan Council, issue emergency decrees and take all necessary measures to avert imminent danger affecting the security of the state or of the people or to cope with any serious financial or economic crisis.

The Constitution of the Republic of China gives a short list of persons who will succeed to the presidency if the office were to fall vacant.

In other nations, the president is formally a private citizen, although even in these cases, travel usually meets with strong objections from the People's Republic of China.

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 them at the event.

However, on 2 December 2016, US President-elect Donald Trump accepted a congratulatory telephone call from the ROC president, a clear break from prior protocol.

The president's podium bears the symbol of a golden plum blossom surrounded by wreath laurel on front side.

After the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising against Qing rule in 1911, the revolutionaries elected Sun Yat-sen as the "provisional president" (臨時大總統) of the transitional government, with the Republic of China officially established on 1 January 1912.

Yuan induced the Last Emperor to abdicate, ending thousands of years of imperial rule in China.

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.

This presidency ended in 1928 when the Northern Expedition, led by the Kuomintang (KMT), succeeded in conquering North China.

The government was organized into five branches, with the Executive Yuan, headed by the premier, holding primary administrative authority.

The new Constitution of the Republic of China, promulgated on 25 December 1947, established a five-branch government with the office of president (總統) as head of state.

After the KMT lost mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the government was evacuated to Taiwan, where the term limits for the president specified in the 1947 constitution were suspended after 1960.