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 8th 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. Born in Wanli District, New Taipei, Lai studied medicine at National Taiwan University and National Cheng Kung University. He graduated from Harvard University with a master's degree in public health in 2003. After practicing internal medicine as a chief physician at two hospitals, Lai won election in 1996 to represent Tainan City in the National Assembly, then served as a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2010. He was the first mayor of Tainan from 2010 to 2017 and the 26th premier of the Republic of China from 2017 to 2019. In the 2019 Democratic Progressive presidential primary, Lai ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Tsai Ing-wen as DPP's presidential candidate, but became her running mate as candidate for the vice president in the 2020 presidential election and won the election. Lai was nominated by the DPP to be its presidential candidate for 2024 and defeated Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Hou Yu-ih in the 2024 presidential election. He took office as president on 20 May 2024.