ABSTRACT
The victory of Chen Shui-bian as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate in the presidential election of March 18, 2000, overturned fifty-five years of Kuomintang (KMT) rule on the island of Taiwan. It was the first peaceful and democratic transition of state power from one political party to another in modern Chinese history. While the election of Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan's president represented a monumental development of democratic politics in Taiwan, it also raised fears of a war across the Taiwan Strait, as it introduced unprecedented challenges and a new element of uncertainty into the fragile relationship between Beijing and Taipei.
