Lai Ching-te in the context of "Nephrologist"

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⭐ Core Definition: Lai Ching-te

Lai Ching-te (Chinese: 賴清德; pinyin: Lài Qīngdé; born 6 October 1959), also known as William Lai, is a Taiwanese politician, physician, and nephrologist who has served as the eighth president of the Republic of China since 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he has been the party's chairman since 2023.

Lai was born in Taipei County to a working-class family. He studied medicine at National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, and, in 2003, earned his master's degree from Harvard University in public health. After practicing medicine as a spinal cord injury expert, Lai ran in the 1996 Legislative Yuan election, winning a seat representing Tainan City. After being re-elected to the Legislative Yuan four consecutive times, he successfully ran for Mayor of Tainan in 2010 and served as mayor for seven years, winning reelection in 2014. In September 2017, President Tsai Ing-wen announced Lai would replace outgoing premier Lin Chuan.

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Lai Ching-te in the context of Democratic Progressive Party

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ruling party in Taiwan, leading a minority government that controls the presidency and the central government.

Founded in 1986 by Hsu Hsin-liang, Roger Hsieh and Lin Shui-chuan, a year prior to the end of martial law, the DPP is one of two major parties in Taiwan, the other being the Kuomintang (KMT), a Chinese nationalist party previously ruling the country as a one-party state, and its smaller allies in the Pan-Blue Coalition. It has traditionally been associated with a strong advocacy of human rights, emerging against the authoritarian White Terror that was initiated by the KMT, as well as the promotion of Taiwanese nationalism and identity. Lai Ching-te is the current chairperson of the DPP from 2023, who also serves as the incumbent President and is the third member of the DPP to hold the presidency; he succeeded fellow DPP member Tsai Ing-wen in May 2024.

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Lai Ching-te in the context of President of the Republic of China

The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (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 losing control of it 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.

Originally elected by the National Assembly, the presidency was intended to be a ceremonial office with no real executive power because the ROC was originally envisioned as a parliamentary republic. Since the 1996 election however, the president has been directly elected by plurality voting to a four-year term, with incumbents limited to serving two terms. The current president is Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party, preceded by Tsai Ing-wen from the same party.

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Lai Ching-te in the context of Chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party

The chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party is the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The incumbent chairman is Lai Ching-te, elected in January 2023.

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