Editing Chiang Ching-kuo (section)

===Leadership===
Chiang Ching-kuo was elected president of the ROC in the [[1978 Taiwanese presidential election]] by the [[National Assembly of the Republic of China|Eternal Parliament]] on 20 May 1978. He was reelected to another term in the [[1984 Taiwanese presidential election]]. At that time, the National Assembly consisted mostly of {{ill|ten-thousand-year congress|lt="ten thousand year" legislators|zh|萬年國會}}, men who had been elected in 1947–48 before the fall of mainland China and who would hold their seats indefinitely. Starting from the 1970s when his father grew sick, Chiang became the de facto leader of the regime and reformed many of his father's autocratic policies and gradually phased out of the white terror by allowing the freedom of peaceful assemblies and political pluralism of the [[Tangwai movement]], which later became the [[Democratic Progressive Party|DPP]]. Chiang also turned down many of the suggestions of the conservatives in the KMT regime to violently suppress the protesters.<ref name="publishersweekly.com"/>

In a move he launched the "[[Ten Major Construction Projects]]" and the "Twelve New Development Projects" which contributed to the "Taiwan Miracle". Among his accomplishments was 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]]. On 16 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.

Chiang Ching-kuo also enacted major [[labor rights]] reforms throughout the 1970s and the 1980s that addressed [[child labor]], [[Women in the workforce|women's employment]], [[working time]], [[pensions]], [[paid leave]], [[employment contract]] with several legislations such as the "Labor Safety and Hygiene Law" in 1974 and the "Factory Law" in 1975. The average salary of Taiwanese workers tripled under his rule. Chiang Ching-kuo also loosened the harsh anti-strike laws and [[union busting]] practice, thus giving the labor movement more opportunity to bargain for fairer wages as he lifted the [[Martial law in Taiwan|martial law provisions]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.modernchinastudies.org/us/issues/past-issues/64-mcs-1999-issue-1/485-2012-01-01-10-06-23.html | title=中国大陆和台湾劳工政策之比较 | access-date=20 February 2023 | archive-date=12 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412110747/https://www.modernchinastudies.org/us/issues/past-issues/64-mcs-1999-issue-1/485-2012-01-01-10-06-23.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

In an effort to bring more Taiwan-born citizens into government services, Chiang Ching-kuo "exiled" his over-ambitious chief of General Political Warfare Department, General [[Wang Sheng (soldier)|Wang Sheng]], to [[Paraguay]] as an ambassador (November 1983),<ref>{{cite book|title=Taiwan: a political history|first=Denny|last= Roy|publisher=Cornell University Press|
year= 2003|isbn=0-8014-8805-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/taiwan00denn/page/179 179]–180|url=https://archive.org/details/taiwan00denn|url-access=registration}}</ref> and hand-picked [[Lee Teng-hui]] as vice-president of the ROC (formally elected May 1984), first-in-the-line of succession to the presidency. Chiang emphatically declared that his successor would not be from the Chiang family in a Constitution Day speech on 25 December 1985:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/26/world/taiwan-chief-rules-out-chance-family-member-will-succeed-him.html|title=Taiwan chief rules out chance family member will succeed him|author=Staff|date=26 December 1985|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=19 May 2016|archive-date=11 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611143948/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/26/world/taiwan-chief-rules-out-chance-family-member-will-succeed-him.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{cquote|The first question is the succession to the presidency. This sort of question only exists in despotic and totalitarian countries. It does not exist in the Republic of China, based on the Constitution. So the next president will be elected in accordance with constitutional procedure by the National Assembly on behalf of the people. Some people may raise the question whether any member of my family would run for the next presidency. My answer is: it can't be and it won't be.<ref name=ConstitutionDay>{{cite speech|url=http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=117721&CtNode=103|title=Constitution to Determine His Successor|first=Chiang|last=Ching-kuo|author-link=Chiang Ching-kuo|event=Constitution Day|location=Taipei, Taiwan|date=25 December 1985|access-date=19 May 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808114036/http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=117721&CtNode=103|archive-date=8 August 2016}}</ref>
}}

Chiang Wei-kuo, Chiang's younger brother, would later repudiate the declaration in 1990 after he was selected as a vice-presidential candidate.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MAU9JjMcfsQC&pg=PA72|title=Democratizing Taiwan|author-link1=J. Bruce Jacobs|author=Jacobs, J. Bruce|chapter=Three: The Lee Teng-Hui presidency to early 1996|page=72|date=2012|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|access-date=19 May 2016|isbn=978-90-04-22154-3|quote=On February 13, 1990 a group of National Assembly members proposed Lin Yang-kang for president and the following day Chiang Wego denied that his brother Chiang Ching-kuo had said, "Members of the Chiang family cannot and will not run for president." Footnote 19: [...] Chiang Ching-kuo made this statement on 25 December 1985.}}</ref>

On 15 July 1987, Chiang finally ended [[martial law]] and allowed his family to visit the [[Mainland China|mainland]]. The ban on tourism to Hong Kong and [[Macau]] was also lifted. His administration saw a gradual loosening of political controls and opponents of the Nationalists were no longer forbidden to hold meetings or publish political criticism papers.

Opposition political parties, though still formally illegal, were allowed to operate without harassment or arrest. When the [[Democratic Progressive Party]] was established on 28 September 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.

Chiang Ching-kuo also increased the political representation of [[Taiwanese people]] to certain degree under his rule, allowing them to have various positions, which paved the way for [[Lee Teng-hui]] to come to power and further democratize Taiwan.<ref>[https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/bitstream/140.119/34380/7/26150107.pdf?TSPD_101_R0=08da84e244ab20008b839029b82a04801d6a66830731be25f8b6f6a862b3e39247325ddd77cf2b0b089967fbee143000cd105d33c8f799944cb1c74dac49a580683868d2b61a0f938f2e94f84fc74cae7720198d5f1a710765d554c2d7fd3da9 Archived copy]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207010513/https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/bitstream/140.119/34380/7/26150107.pdf?TSPD_101_R0=08da84e244ab20008b839029b82a04801d6a66830731be25f8b6f6a862b3e39247325ddd77cf2b0b089967fbee143000cd105d33c8f799944cb1c74dac49a580683868d2b61a0f938f2e94f84fc74cae7720198d5f1a710765d554c2d7fd3da9|date=7 February 2023 }}</ref>