President of Republic of China

President of the Republic of China 中華民國總統 Zhōnghuá Mínguó Zǒngtǒng
Presidential Seal
Presidential Standard of the Republic of China
Incumbent Tsai Ing-wen since 20 May 2016 (2016-05-20)
Style	Her/His Excellency (閣下)
Residence	Yonghe Residence
Seat	Presidential Palace, Nanking (1947-1949) Presidential Office Building, Taipei (1949-present)
Appointer	Direct election
Term length	Two consecutive 4-year terms Section 6 of Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China
Constituting instrument	Constitution of the Republic of China
Formation	1 January 1912 (1912-01-01) as the Provisional President 10 October 1913 (1913-10-10) as the President (Peiyang Government) 10 October 1928 (1928-10-10) as the Chairman of the Nationalist Government 5 August 1948 (1948-20-05) as the President of the ROC
First holder	Sun Yat-sen as the first Provisional President in 1912 Chiang Kai-shek as the first President under the 1947 Constitution
Deputy	Chen Chien-jen
Salary	NT$6,428,282 annually (~US$200,000)
Website	english.president.gov.tw (in English)

The President of the Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國總統; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Zǒngtǒng) is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC) and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The ROC was founded in 1912, to govern all of China; however, after the ROC lost control of mainland China, the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan in the late 1940s. The existing office of President was created in 1948 under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. The first president under the constitution was Chiang Kai-shek. Tsai Ing-wen succeeded Ma Ying-jeou on 20 May 2016 as the first female president in the nation's history.

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 January 1, 1912. But Sun soon resigned from the provisional presidency in favor of Yuan Shikai, who assumed the title "Great President" (大總統) in March 1912. Yuan induced the Last Emperor to abdicate, ending thousands of years of imperial rule in China. The 1913 Constitution called for a strong presidential system with notable checks on the president by the National Assembly. However, Yuan soon began to assert dictatorial power, ignoring the National Assembly and later abolishing it altogether. 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.