TAIPEI -- A memorial library in honor of Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's first democratically elected president, will open as early as mid-2023 in Taipei, his namesake foundation announced Thursday.

The library will likely be housed at the National Taiwan University, Lee's alma mater, and feature books and documents on Lee's accomplishments to help future research about Taiwan's democratization movement.

Lee, dubbed Taiwan's father of democracy, died at age 97 on July 30 last year.

"My father during his lifetime had wanted to build a library to further the development of democracy in Taiwan," said his daughter Annie Lee, who chairs the foundation.

A longtime advocate for democracy, Lee was instrumental in dismantling the authoritarian regime that had ruled the island in the decades following World War II.

He won the island's first direct presidential election in 1996 by a landslide and continued advocating for democratic ideals long after leaving office, earning rebuke from Beijing for his support for Taiwanese sovereignty.

"There were many opinions in Taiwan about the construction of the library," she said, adding that not all supported her father's legacy.

"We and our family thought about this a lot," she said. "My father would not have this done if building the library actual fueled further divisions in Taiwan."