Editing Chen Shui-bian (section)

===Second term===
On 20 May 2004, Chen was sworn in for his second term as president amid continued mass protests by the pan-blue alliance over the validity of his re-election. Having heard protests from pro-independence figures in Taiwan, he did not explicitly re-state the [[Four Noes and One Without]] but did state that he reaffirmed the commitments made in his first inaugural. He defended his proposals to change the constitution, but asked for constitutional reform to be undertaken through existing procedures instead of calling for a referendum for an entirely new constitution which was proposed by former president Lee Teng-hui. This would require approval by a three-fourths majority of the [[National Assembly of the Republic of China|National Assembly]] which could authorize a referendum. This has two major implications. First, by going through existing constitutional amendment procedures, this has the symbolic effect of maintaining continuity with the existing constitution which was originally written in China. Second, this has the practical effect of requiring the Chen administration to get the consent of the opposition [[pan-Blue coalition]] to pass any amendments, and while the opposition is willing to consider constitutional reforms that would increase governmental efficiency, they are unlikely to support anything that would imply a ''de jure'' declaration of independence.

However, even these seemingly conciliatory gestures did not quell unease by his critics at his election. Some have pointed out that he qualified his statements on the constitution with the statement that this is a personal suggestion. Furthermore, it is widely believed in Taiwan that some of these gestures were essentially forced on him again by pressure from the United States and the PRC. The PRC has stated many times that it cares little about what Chen says, but will watch closely in the next few months to see what he does, a standard sentence that Communist China continues to quote.

[[Image:2006TaiwanSportEliteAwards AbianChen.jpg|thumb|Chen Shui-bian addressed his opening speech at 2006 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards]]

Three days before Chen's inauguration, the [[Taiwan Affairs Office]] of the [[People's Republic of China|PRC]] issued what has become known as the [[May 17 Declaration]]. In that declaration, China accused Chen of continuing with a creep toward independence, having merely paid lip service to his commitments in his first term of office, and reiterated that there would be consequences if Chen did not halt policies toward [[Taiwan independence]], but at the same time offered major concessions if Chen would accept the [[One China Principle]].

In late 2004, in effort to maintain the [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] in the region, Chen began eagerly pushing for a US$18&nbsp;billion arms purchase from the United States, but the Pan-Blue Coalition repeatedly blocked the deal in the legislature. Criticism has been made of this, citing contradictory arguments used, such as that the weapons were not what Taiwan needed, or that the weapons were a good idea but too expensive. By late 2006, the KMT had signalled it would support some of the arms sale being approved, but failed to pass a revised arms bill by the end of the legislative session in early 2007, despite promises by then KMT chairman, [[Ma Ying-jeou]], to do that.

Chen announced on 5 December that state-owned or private enterprises and foreign offices bearing the name "China", such as [[China Airlines]], the [[China Steel Corporation]], and [[Chinese Petroleum Corporation]], would be renamed to bear the name "Taiwan." On 14 December 2004, following the failure of the [[Pan-Green coalition]] to gain a majority of seats in the [[2004 ROC legislative election]] (as many had expected to occur), Chen resigned as chairman of the DPP. This dashed hopes that the stalemate that plagued Chen's first term would end.

[[File:Pope johnpaul funeral politics.jpeg|thumb|left|At the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Chen (''far left''), whom the Holy See recognized as the head of state of China, was seated in the front row ([[List of dignitaries at the funeral of Pope John Paul II|in French alphabetical order]]) beside the first lady and president of Brazil.]]

In 2005 Chen became the first ROC president to visit Europe, when he attended the [[funeral of Pope John Paul II]] in the [[Vatican City]] (the [[Holy See]] continues to maintain diplomatic relations with the ROC). In order to shore up diplomatic support, it is common for the ROC president to visit the ROC's remaining diplomatic allies; however, past presidents had been prevented from visiting the Vatican because such a visit would require passage through Italy, which maintains relations with the PRC. Under agreement with the Vatican, Italy permitted all guests to the funeral passage without hindrance and Chen was received at the airport in his capacity as a foreign head of state. In this religious ceremony where U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] greeted Iranian president Khatami, Chen did not seem to attempt to a high profile of himself by reaching out to other heads of states such as Bush or British prime minister [[Tony Blair]]. Chen was named one of the [[Time 100|''Time'' 100]] for 2005.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2005/time100/leaders/100shui-bian.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209012951/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/2005/time100/leaders/100shui-bian.html |archive-date=9 December 2006 |title=The 2005 Time 100 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=7 January 2017}}</ref>

Later in the year, Chen traveled to Miami in stopover for a forum in the Caribbean. He met with members of the [[U.S. Congress]] through video conference and was invited to visit Washington, D.C. On his way back, he was originally scheduled to fly through San Francisco. However, he changed course and stopped-over at the United Arab Emirates. The head of state greeted him and hosted a formal state dinner, infuriating the Chinese officials. Chen made his way back after making a stopover at [[Jakarta]]. His request for a pitstop at Singapore was denied; authorities cited weather problems.

On [[228 Incident|28 February]] 2006, Chen announced that the [[National Unification Council]], which was set up in 1990 to create guidelines for unification with China if it adopted democracy, would "cease to function". He took care to use this phrase rather than "abolish" because he had promised during his 2000 campaign that he would not abolish the council or its guidelines.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bradsher|first=Keith|date=28 February 2006|title=Taiwan's Leader Defies Beijing's Warnings|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/world/asia/taiwans-leader-defies-beijings-warnings.html|access-date=21 June 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=23 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623114832/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/world/asia/taiwans-leader-defies-beijings-warnings.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman of the US State Department, issued a statement on 2 March 2006, that the understanding of the United States was that the difference between "abolish" and "ceasing activity" implied no change in the status quo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ait.org.tw/en/news/officialtext/viewer.asp?ID=2006030302&GROUP=BG |title=AIT – Official Texts – OTI-0603E |access-date=6 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422070523/http://www.ait.org.tw/en/news/officialtext/viewer.asp?ID=2006030302&GROUP=BG |archive-date=22 April 2006 }}</ref>

On 3 May 2006, Chen canceled plans to pass through the United States on his way to Latin America. He was hoping to stop by either San Francisco or New York City to refuel and stay overnight, but the US refused his request instead limiting him to a brief refuelling stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, where Chen would not be allowed to step off the plane. Chen and Taiwan saw this as a snub and led to Chen's cancellation. The trip to Latin America continued, however, without a US stopover. The US State Department claimed that the Alaska stopover offer was consistent with its previous accommodations. However, former Taiwan president [[Lee Teng-hui]] was granted a visit to [[Cornell University]] eleven years earlier. More recently, in addition, Taiwan's leaders have in general been granted permission to stopover in the United States for brief periods before continuing on to other countries. This recent American stance is interpreted by Taiwan to be an expression of the increasing irritation the United States feels towards Taiwan and Chen's seemingly pro-independence gestures. Chen attended the inauguration of [[Óscar Arias]], the president of [[Costa Rica]], one of the few countries that recognized the Republic of China at that time. [[Laura Bush]] was also present to represent U.S. president [[George W. Bush]]. Chen seized the opportunity, approached her and shook her hands, while Chen's aide produced a camera immediately for an impromptu [[photo-op]]. Chen's supporters saw this act as a step forward in Taiwan's struggle for diplomatic recognition, while his detractors claimed that it was a grave breach of international [[etiquette]] and put Taiwan to shame.
[[File:2007TaipeiInternationalFlowerExhibition ShuibianChen.jpg|thumb|Shui-bian Chen visited 2007 Taipei International Flower Exhibition.]]
On 12 May 2007, Premier [[Su Tseng-Chang]] resigned his position, and Chen soon appointed Chang Chun-hsiung to fill the vacant premiership. During Chen's tenure, beginning in 2000, the country has seen six different premiers in the past seven years. During the same period of time, from 2000 onward, the Democratic Progressive Party has also seen seven different chairmen.

Chen's tenure as president expired on 20 May 2008, yielding to successor Ma Ying-Jeou. From his election to his first term to his last days as president, Chen's approval ratings fell from 79% to just 21%.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 May 2008 |title= |script-title=zh:聯合報民調》扁八年 滿意度79%→21% |trans-title=United Daily News Poll: Chen Shui-bian's eight years, approval rating 79% → 21%. |url=http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS4/4348497.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411020418/http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS4/4348497.shtml |archive-date=11 April 2010 |access-date=26 March 2009 |website=UDN |language=zh}}</ref>