Of the 225 recently elected representatives in the
Fifth Legislative Yuan, more than half are new to the
lawmaking body. Among them, many have previously
distinguished themselves in other capacities. Here
are brief profiles of ten of the newcomers from
various political backgrounds.
John Chang, 60, Kuomintang, Taipei City's Second District
Having served as vice premier, foreign minister, and secretary-general of the Office of the President under Lee Teng-hui, Chang has no shortage of experience in the executive branch. As a former secretary-general of the Kuomintang (KMT) and current member of its Central Standing Committee, he is also well-versed in party affairs. An English major at Taipei's Soochow University, Chang is also fluent in French. He went on to earn a master's degree in international relations from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Besides his widely recognized capabilities, Chang has benefited politically from his now-acknowledged family background. He is the natural son of the late President Chiang Ching-kuo and the grandson of Chiang Kai-shek.
Chang expresses surprise at the poor performance of his party in the December 1 elections. "Few ruling parties in the world could hope to win voter approval if they failed to handle economic issues well," he says. "But the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accomplished that by passing the buck to the opposition parties and by stirring up ethnic sentiment." He regrets that the KMT was unable to establish a positive image for itself, despite having carried out significant internal reforms in the past year, such as holding the first direct election of the party chairman by rank-and-file members. Chang advocates further changes to improve the KMT--streamlining its bloated organization, for example, to reduce the personnel expenditures that now account for some two-thirds of the party budget.
In the Legislative Yuan, Chang says, he plans to concentrate on issues relating to Taiwan's relations with mainland China. "The cross-Strait relationship is crucial to Taiwan's development," he maintains. "What was true for the past fifty years is still the case--Taiwan can't act without paying attention to the mainland government's reaction." He therefore intends to set up a multiparty subgroup in the legislature to help oversee this aspect of the government's policymaking. Concurrently chairman of the Chamber of Taiwan's Businessmen in China, a private organization established in December 2000, Chang plans to make protecting the rights of Taiwanese businessmen across the Strait one of his parliamentary priorities.
Sisy Chen, 43, independent, Taipei City's Second District
A graduate of the law department of National Taiwan University (NTU) and later a Ph.D. candidate in historical sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York, Chen is known for her keen intellect and flamboyant image. As the DPP's spokesperson and director of its Department of Culture and Information from 1995 to 1998, she helped the party win the hearts of many members of Taiwan's younger generation. Despite a twenty-year association with the DPP and its precursor opposition movement, she quit the party in 1998, mainly because of disagreements over mainland policy. Chen has since been active in media circles and is now the host of several popular television and radio programs. She is one of ten independents serving in the new legislature.
Now one of the DPP's harshest critics, Sisy Chen blasted the ruling party during the election campaign for poor performance in managing the economy and for fomenting ethnic divisiveness. But she has taken the opposition parties to task as well. "We have a ruling party that can't rule and opposition parties that don't know how to effectively oppose the government," Chen once told her television audience. "That is the tragedy of Taiwanese democracy."
In a survey of 500 Taiwanese business executives conducted by the magazine Business Weekly just before the election, Chen came out as their top choice to make cross-Strait policies. Businessmen appreciate her emphasis on building closer economic ties with China and on seeking ways for Taiwan to play a more active role in the international community. She has stated that her prime objective is to ensure Taiwan's continued economic and political development, a goal she regards as overriding political ideologies. One of Asiaweek magazine's twenty-five "Trendmakers in Asia" featured in the 1998 March issue (and the only Taiwanese on the list), Sisy Chen expects to continue setting trends from a seat in the Legislative Yuan.
Tony Cheng, 32, People First Party, Taipei County's First District
A star on the basketball court as a high-scoring member of Taiwan's national team for fourteen years, Cheng is a novice in the political arena. James Soong, chairman of the People First Party (PFP), is said to have recruited Cheng as a legislative candidate after admiring the competitiveness and leadership he displayed as an athlete.
Cheng studied physical education at the Chinese Culture University. Before taking office as a parliamentarian, he served as coach for a semi-pro basketball team.
Not surprisingly, Cheng says that as a lawmaker he expects to focus mainly on issues related to sports. "I'm not going to touch political issues very much," he acknowledges. Creating a better environment for athletes and opening more sports facilities to the public are central to his platform for stimulating the development of sports and fitness in Taiwan. Athletics are important for health and recreation, but their significance goes beyond that, he maintains. "Taiwan's teenagers are too self-centered. By watching or taking part in athletics, they'll gain an appreciation of the value of teamwork." Noting that sports are a big business in some countries, Cheng also stresses that sporting activities can contribute to economic development and employment.
Tony Cheng says that his ten-month stay in China as a basketball player in 1999-2000 gave him a chance to see Taiwan's situation more clearly from an outside perspective. Every country is trying to enter the vast China market--"it's like China is a new sports arena that every team is competing to get the right to play in"--but Taiwan has been too slow in this respect, to the detriment of its economic prospects, he contends.
He also uses a sports metaphor to take a slap at Taiwan's current political leadership. "The coach can't handle his own team and persuade the players to follow his instructions," he says. "That's really worrying.
Alice Chiu, 30, DPP, Pingtung County
The holder of an undergraduate degree from a college in Australia, Chiu is an MBA candidate at Dominican University in San Francisco. She emerged as the most popular candidate in her home county in southern Taiwan in this election. The daughter of a noted DPP politician, Chiu Mao-nan, who is now a national policy advisor to the president, she was a member of the Third National Assembly and is serving her second term on the DPP's Central Standing Committee.
Chiu attributes the DPP's strong showing in the south in this election mainly to its strategy of vote allocation to ensure an even distribution of support within the multi-seat constituencies. "Voters in the south are largely DPP sympathizers in the first place," so they were willing to follow party directives on how to cast their ballots, she says. "They share the view that if the DPP couldn't become the biggest party in the parliament, President Chen Shui-bian would face tremendous obstacles trying to push through his program." She expresses hopes that the new political environment, in which three parties control large blocks of votes in the legislature, can encourage an end to confrontational strategies, replaced by "cooperation amid competition."
In line with plans to focus her attention on Taiwan's economic development, Chiu aims to land a place on either the Economics and Energy Committee or the Transportation and Communications Committee in the Legislative Yuan. The complicated cross-Strait issue should be put on the back burner, she believes, since it is closely tied to international conditions that are currently in flux. One such recent change she cited was the entry of both Taiwan and China into the World Trade Organization (WTO)--a development that may gradually create a new environment for interaction between Taipei and Beijing.
Chiu expresses a conviction that Taiwan officials are ready to sit down with representatives of the other side if Beijing agrees. "To help bring about recovery of the domestic economy, I believe the Taiwan government is really sincere about wanting to talk to its counterpart on the mainland."
Julian J. Kuo, 40, DPP, Taipei City's Second District
A graduate of NTU, Kuo obtained his doctorate in political science from Yale University. Formerly director of the DPP's Policy Research and Coordinating Committee, Kuo has been on the faculty of Taipei's Soochow University since 1993, holding the rank of associate professor. Following Chen Shui-bian's election as president, Kuo also served as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Kuo considers that the December elections have served to stabilize Taiwan's political situation, with the DPP now better able to coordinate relations between the executive and legislative branches. "Now the party must take responsibility for Taiwan's future, and its ability to improve the economic environment will be the focus of attention," he notes. In his opinion, the election outcome will have little bearing on cross-Strait relations. "After Taiwan's entry into the WTO, it has to play by the organization's rules no matter which party is in power. Political tensions across the Strait do exist, but they shouldn't be over-emphasized because economic, social, and cultural exchanges between the two sides are developing in an encouraging way."
As a lawmaker, Kuo identifies his major concerns as parliamentary as well as governmental reforms. Regarding restructuring of the legislative body, he advocates cutting the number of seats (now 225) in half and replacing multi-seat constituencies with single-member districts. "With that change, we can make it less likely for disreputable elements to get elected to parliament." He also favors the streamlining of agencies in the executive branch to heighten the government's efficiency in responding to WTO membership and the pressures of globalization. In addition, Kuo looks forward to "the DPP playing the role of ridding the country of undue privileges accumulated over the years." He makes clear that "the KMT's party assets will be the main target in this regard."
Liao Pen-yen, 45, Taiwan Solidarity Union, Taipei County's First District
A business management graduate of Fu Jen Catholic University, Liao had belonged to the DPP before joining the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) shortly after its founding last August. He served as the mayor of Shulin City (upgraded from a town during his tenure) in Taipei County from 1994 to early 2002, and was chairman of an association for promoting communication among the heads of towns governed by the DPP.
Liao says his party exceeded expectations in the December election, but notes that it could have performed even better if it had gauged its strength more accurately and adopted a more effective strategy for nominating candidates. "Many DPP supporters would vote for us if they feel unhappy about current economic conditions or about the increasing murkiness of the DPP's political ideology, and KMT supporters with a strong nativist consciousness would too," he maintains.
The new lawmaker believes that the TSU will play the role of a monitor at a time when the "Go Slow" policy of restraining the size and scope of Taiwanese investment in China is being loosened. That policy had been engineered by Lee Teng-hui, now the fledgling party's spiritual leader, when he was president. "We don't insist on any particular formula regarding the regulation of investment on the mainland," says Liao. "We just wish to remind the government periodically that it needs to be prudent in dealing with cross-Strait issues."
At the same time, he plans to seek legislative means to help boost Taiwan's economic performance. "Pushing for large-scale construction projects will be my major concern," he says, noting that the economic prosperity of recent decades owed much to the infrastructure development promoted in the 1970s during Chiang Ching-kuo's presidency. "That is a way for the government to enlarge domestic demand and decrease the unemployment problem. I hope the opposition parties will stop hindering the government from taking action. As for cross-Strait issues, it's better to shelve them for now and let both sides concentrate on their domestic affairs."
Lo Wen-jia, 36, DPP, Taipei City's First District
A political science graduate of NTU, Lo has been referred to as President Chen Shui-bian's right-hand man. This rising star in the DPP formerly served as director of the party's Department of Culture and Information and then became director of the Taipei City Government's Information Department--which also made him the mayor's spokesman--during Chen Shui-bian's administration in City Hall. In January 2001, announcing his decision to run for a seat in the Legislative Yuan, Lo resigned as vice chairman of the government's Council for Cultural Affairs in order to start preparing for the campaign.
Lo says he entered the electoral competition out of a desire to help elevate the quality of Taiwan politics and politicians and to bring more humanitarianism and imagination to public life. "The political instability induced by the transfer of power [in 2000] was inevitable, but I worry that it has lasted too long," Lo said last year when announcing his candidacy. "Why have today's politics become characterized by sabotage and revenge?" He cited concern about the DPP's future as another reason for him to run in the election. "Will the DPP unknowingly stop being creative after becoming the ruling party?" he asked.
Lo plans to devote himself in parliament to streamlining the government, revising outdated laws, and finding ways to enhance the efficiency and increase the self-esteem of public servants. He has also pledged unflagging support for the government's anti-corruption campaign, as well as for efforts to strengthen environmental protection and otherwise improve the quality of life. In addition, Lo has called for the Legislative Yuan to take the initiative in supporting the public's right to know by making more of its records easily accessible.
Sunny T.C. Sun, 32, PFP, Taoyuan County
Another NTU graduate, Sun obtained his master's degree in international relations from Ohio State University, then worked in the United States as a researcher for Ford Motor Co. and other organizations, and in Taiwan in the Taipei City Government's Department of Economic Development. Before this election he served as the PFP's spokesman and as vice director of its Information Department. Garnering more than 90,000 ballots, Sun won more votes than any other legislative candidate in this election.
Although the election results were generally interpreted as favorable for the PFP, Sun says he considers the outcome as "acceptable" to the party at best. "This is the first time we took part in an election, and immediately afterward we held a discussion on how to perform better next time." Sun says the "green camp" (meaning the DPP and the TSU) can claim a major victory only in terms of the number of seats obtained. Its share of the total vote, he emphasizes, accounted for about 41 percent, or only 2 percentage points more than what was won by Chen Shui-bian in the 2000 presidential election. "If the 'blue camp' [meaning the KMT and the PFP] can cooperate, its prospects can still be quite encouraging."
Sun considers the emergence of so many new faces in the Fifth Legislative Yuan as an expression of the voters' desire to see new ways of thinking about Taiwan's future. During his term as a lawmaker, Sun says he will first concern himself with educational reform, which he maintains should extend beyond the restructuring of educational institutions to examine the content of the curricula as well. He also plans to pay considerable attention to cross-Strait relations and the needs of the domestic high-tech industry. "Taiwan has a sound foundation for this industry to grow. Now the government needs to step in and play a more active role in upgrading and developing it," he says. With regard to service to his own constituency, he has identified dredging the rivers in Taoyuan County to aid flood control as his major concern.
Wu Den-yih, 54, KMT, Nantou County
A journalist after graduating from NTU as a history major, Wu worked for the China Times, one of Taiwan's leading newspapers, as a reporter and editorial writer. He began his political career by serving as a member of the Taipei City Council, then returned to his native Nantou County to win election as county executive. In 1990 he was appointed the mayor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second largest city. After the mayoralty was made an elected office, Wu ran successfully for a second term in 1994 but was defeated in his run for a third term in 1998. He served as a member of the KMT Central Standing Committee from 1993 to 2001.
The top vote-getter in Nantou County in this election, Wu attributes the KMT's poor overall showing mainly to missteps in the nomination process. "The party nominated the vast majority of incumbent legislators, which was out of all proportion to the party's real strength," he notes. "The DPP, on the other hand, is very good at electioneering, though it's awful at governing." He hastens to add, however, that the ruling party deserves applause for its initiatives against vote-buying in this election.
In parliament, Wu says he will give priority to measures for reconstructing his native county, which suffered severe damage from the massive earthquake of September 21, 1999. As a representative from a heavily agricultural district, Wu also intends to defend farmers' interests now that Taiwan has entered the WTO, for example by pushing for financial aid to make up for losses due to the influx of foreign food products. Since Nantou, home to Sun-Moon Lake and other scenic spots, is also an important location for sightseeing, Wu supports efforts to boost the tourism sector. "A major step would be to allow more mainland Chinese to come here as tourists," he maintains. Transportation is another priority because of its close relationship to economic development. In particular, Wu is pushing for construction of an expressway linking Taichung with the town of Puli in Nantou County.
Wu Cheng-tien, 45, New Party, Kinmen County
After acquiring a doctorate in material science from Case Western-Reserve University in Cleveland and working for four years in the United States, Wu returned to Taiwan in 1989 to join the Industrial Technology Research Institute as a research manager. In 1997 he filled a vacancy to become a member-at-large in the Third National Assembly elected the previous year and was also selected to serve as the deputy secretary-general of the New Party.
This election was the third time that Wu ran for a legislative seat from his native Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, a group of small islands just off the coast of China's Fujian Province. Of the New Party's thirty-two candidates in the 2001 legislative elections, he emerged as the only winner. Although he himself was elected, he was saddened by his party's total defeat on Taiwan proper, which he attributes to the rise of the PFP competing for similar votes. "Compared with the other political parties, the New Party's policies on cross-Strait issues are much more clear-cut," he remarks. "Why should such a party fail in the end?"
Wu has taken the promotion of Kinmen's development as his primary mission. "The KMT long ignored Kinmen and the DPP has been equally disappointing," Wu says. His legislative program will focus on permitting expanded economic and cultural interchange between Kinmen and the nearby mainland city of Xiamen. "Ever since the number of military personnel stationed there was reduced [starting in the early 1980s], Kinmen's economy has been on the decline. Now more interaction is needed with booming Xiamen to stimulate the economy," he suggests. Wu considers the measures adopted in early 2001 to allow limited direct transport between Kinmen and the mainland--the "three mini-links"--to be insufficient. "Kinmen is quite small. If the central government can pay it just a little more attention, the situation will change for the better in a short time."