Eric Chu

Eric Chu
Chu Li-luan
朱立倫
7th Chairman of the Kuomintang
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 January 2015
Deputy Hau Lung-pin
Huang Min-hui
Preceded by Ma Ying-jeou
Wu Den-yih (acting)
Mayor of New Taipei
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 December 2010
Deputy Hou You-yi
Preceded by Office created, as Chou Hsi-wei as Magistrate of Taipei County
Vice Premier of the Republic of China
In office
10 September 2009 – 17 May 2010
Premier Wu Den-yih
Preceded by Paul Chiu
Succeeded by Sean Chen
Minister of Consumer Protection Commission of the Executive Yuan
In office
10 September 2009 – 17 May 2010
Preceded by Paul Chiu
Succeeded by Sean Chen
Vice Chairman of Kuomintang
In office
30 April 2014 – 19 January 2015
Chairman Ma Ying-jeou
In office
22 November 2008 – 16 October 2009
Chairman Wu Po-hsiung
Magistrate of Taoyuan County
In office
20 December 2001 – 10 September 2009
Deputy Huang Min-kon
Preceded by Annette Lu
Hsu Ying-shen (Acting)
Succeeded by Huang Min-kon (Acting)
John Wu
Personal details
Born 7 June 1961
Bade City, Taoyuan County (now Bade District, Taoyuan City), Republic of China
Nationality  Republic of China
Political party Kuomintang
Alma mater National Taiwan University
New York University
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chu (朱).

Eric Chu or Chu Li-luan (Chinese: 朱立倫; pinyin: Zhū Lìlún; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician who is the mayor of New Taipei. He was born into a political family with strong Kuomintang (KMT) ties,[1] and served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China, under Premier Wu Den-yih. Prior to this, Chu served as legislator (1999 to 2001) and as the magistrate of Taoyuan County (2001 to 2009). He was elected as the first mayor of the newly established city of New Taipei on 27 November 2010. On 17 January 2015, he was elected unopposed as Chairman of Kuomintang, succeeding Ma Ying-jeou.

Early life

Chu was born in Bade City, Taoyuan County (now Bade District, Taoyuan City), Taiwan,[2] son of a local Taoyuan County politician who served in the local legislature and also in the National Assembly. Chu's mother is from Daxi Township (now Daxi District). Chu is married to Kao Wan-ching; his father-in-law, Kao Yu-jen, is former speaker of the Taiwan's Provincial Assembly, chairman of Twinhead International Corp, and founder of FiberLogic Communications.[3][4][5]

Chu studied at the National Taiwan University, earning a bachelors degree in management. After completing compulsory military service in the Republic of China Armed Forces, Chu then went abroad to study at New York University where he completed a master's degree in finance and a PhD in accounting.

Early career

Dr. Chu then taught as assistant professor at City University of New York before returning to teach in Taiwan. He was promoted to full professor before age 36 at National Taiwan University in 1997.

He ran in the Republic of China legislative election held on 5 December 1998, was elected as a Kuomintang legislator, and took office on 1 February 1999. During his office term, he focused on financial and economic issues of Taiwan.[6][7]

Taoyuan County magistrate

Magistrate Chu at the 2007 Taoyuan Book Exhibition
Magistrate Chu and Mayor Hau at the 2008 Digital Cities Convention Taoyuan

2001 Taoyuan County magistrate election

Chu ran for the 2001 Taoyuan County Magistrate election on 1 December 2001 as a member of then-opposition Kuomintang, and defeated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) incumbent Peng Shao-chin, who had inherited the magistrate position after Annette Lu vacated the post to serve as Vice President.

2001 Taoyuan County Magistrate Election Result
No. Party Candidate Votes Percentage
1 DPPPeng Shao-chin (彭紹瑾)353,56844.2%
2 KMTEric Chu441,82755.24%
3 IndependentChuang Chih-chung (莊志忠)4,5090.56%

2005 Taoyuan County magistrate election

Chu ran for re-election in the 2005 Republic of China local election on 3 December 2005 and defeated DPP challenger Cheng Pao-ching, CEO of Taiwan Salt Company. He then took office for his second term as magistrate on 20 December 2005.[8]

2005 Taoyuan County Magistrate Election Result
No. Party Candidate Votes
1 KMTEric Chu488,979
2 DPPCheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清)307,965
3 IndependentWu Jiadeng (吳家登)6,784

2009 Founders Awards

In March 2009, Magistrate Chu, with other three local government officials, was named by the Intelligent Community Forum as the recipient of its annual Founders Awards for his effort in digital and technology development. The forum studies the impact of technology on communities.[9]

Grandmother's house named historic site

According to the Liberty Times, while Chu was serving as magistrate, his grandmother's home in Daxi was designated a historic architectural site; in 2014, after Chu registered to run for chairmanship of the KMT, just prior to the transfer of power to the DPP, the Taoyuan County Government Cultural Affairs Bureau signed contracts of NT$30.17 million (US$1 mil) of public spending to renovate the site.[10]

Resignation from position as County Magistrate

Chu did not complete his second term. He resigned his post as Taoyuan county magistrate when he was named vice premier in 2009.[11]

Kuomintang Vice Chairmanship

During his second term as Magistrate of Taoyuan County, Chu concurrently served as the Vice Chairman of Kuomintang in November 2008 until October 2009.[12]

ROC Vice Premiership

Vice Premier appointment

Chu was tapped by President Ma Ying-jeou to be the Vice Premier to Wu Den-yih in September, 2009, in a reshuffling of the Executive Yuan due to the slow disaster response to the Typhoon Morakot. Chu's position as Magistrate of Taoyuan County was succeeded by Deputy Magistrate Huang Min-kon.[13] At the age of 48, Chu was the youngest Vice Premier in ROC history.[6]

Vice Premier resignation

Chu in 2010 ROC Municipal Election for Mayor of New Taipei City

On 13 May 2010, Chu submitted his resignation to Premier Wu to run for mayor of the newly created New Taipei City, the successor of Taipei County. He officially quit his position 4 days later on 17 May 2010. Financial Supervisory Commission chairperson Sean Chen was tapped to succeed Chu as deputy premier.[14]

New Taipei City Mayoralty

2010 New Taipei City mayoralty election

In May 2010 before the New Taipei City Mayor election, Chu outlined his vision for the city. Noting the gap between New Taipei and Taipei, Chu promised to transform New Taipei if he was elected, where completing the mass rapid transit network in New Taipei will be his top priority. Chu defeated DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen on 27 November 2010, to become the first mayor of New Taipei on 25 December 2010.[15]

2010 New Taipei City Mayoral Election Result
Party # Candidate Votes Percentage
Kuomintang 1 Eric Chu 1,115,536 52.61%
Democratic Progressive Party 2 Tsai Ing-wen 1,004,900 47.39%
Total 2,120,436 100.00%
Voter turnout 71.25%

Wikileaks

The content of some of Chu's conversations with Stephen Young of the American Institute in Taiwan was included in US diplomatic cables that were released by WikiLeaks in 2011. Chu claims that those cables do not accurately reflect the content of the Chu-Young conversations.[16]

Taiwanese fisherman shooting incident

After the shooting incident of Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine government vessel on 9 May 2013 at the disputed water in South China Sea, Chu condemned the shooting and said that he would suspend all of the exchanges between New Taipei City and the Philippines until the Philippine government offers apology, compensate the victim's family and bring the perpetrators to justice.[17]

2014 New Taipei City mayoralty election

Election result in New Taipei City for Chu (朱立倫) and Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃).

On 29 November 2014, Chu won the New Taipei City mayoralty election, defeating his opponent Yu Shyi-kun of the Democratic Progressive Party.[18] He had been expected to win a landslide victory, but he won by slightly more than 1% of the vote total.[19][20]

2014 New Taipei City Mayoral Election Result
No. Candidate Party Votes Percentage
1Yu Shyi-kun DPP934,774 48.78%
2Li Chin-shun (李進順) Independent22,207 1.16%
3Eric Chu KMT959,302 50.06%

Kuomintang Chairmanship

Election registration

On 17 January 2015, Chu ran unopposed for KMT chairmanship election. He was the only candidate to have registered and paid the NT$ 2 million registration fee.[21]

Candidate Total votes cast Percentage of vote
Eric Chu[22] 196,065 99.61%
Voter turnout 56.34%[23]

On relations with mainland China

Prior to the election, he said that he has not decided at the moment if he will later be meeting with Communist Party of China Secretary-General Xi Jinping after being elected as KMT chairman.[24] Furthermore, he said that “Cross-strait relations must stick to the current peaceful, open and mutually beneficial path, no matter which party is in power...but the economic benefits brought about by cross-strait development must not only go to a few vested groups...(and) We will pay special attention to an equitable distribution of wealth."[25]

KMT Party Assets

Chu also acknowledged that the KMT has accumulated much of its wealth illegally, and that these assets should be returned to the nation.[26] In 2000 Chu claimed that these assets total US$3.15 billion;[27] they include 146 plots of land, many in prime locations, as well as 157 houses and buildings. the majority of which were seized from Japanese and Taiwanese in 1945 and subsequently treated as belonging to the party, not the nation.[28] After Chu announced his candidacy for KMT Chairmanship, however, he claimed not to know what assets are held or what their value might be.[29]

Family Assets

According to a Control Yuan report issued in 2014, the four members of Chu's immediate family have combined savings of $23.5 million New Taiwan dollars. Chu also has securities and 11 plots of land in Taipei, Taoyuan City and Tainan; furthermore, he has three homes in Taipei's Shilin District and Neihu District that are worth more than $100 million New Taiwan dollars. This same report reveals that from 2012 to 2014, while serving as New Taipei City mayor, his assets grew by NT$7.5 million ($251,200 United States dollars).[30]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eric Chu.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Eric Chu

References

  1. ↑ http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1656522/after-kmt-drubbing-all-eyes-turn-partys-lone-mayor-eric-chu
  2. ↑ "The Mayor of Taoyuan County ― Eric Liluan Chu." Taoyuan County. Retrieved on 2 February 2009.
  3. ↑ "Eric Chu tight-lipped on election bid".
  4. ↑ "PROFILE: Appointment as vice premier will put Taoyuan County’s Eric Chu to the test".
  5. ↑ "Eric Chu’s family ties a cause for concern: TSU".
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=70377&CtNode=1337
  7. ↑ "Eric Chu (朱立倫)｜Who's Who｜WantChinaTimes.com". Wantchinatimes.com. 1961-06-07. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  8. ↑ "2014 ELECTIONS: KMT’s John Wu loses Taoyuan re-election bid".
  9. ↑ "PROFILE: Appointment as vice premier will put Taoyuan County’s Eric Chu to the test". Taipei Times. 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  10. ↑ "solidarity.tw".
  11. ↑ "DPP questions Chu's promise to stay on as New Taipei mayor".
  12. ↑ "Newsmakers: Eric Chu | Hear in Taiwan". Blog.rti.org.tw. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  13. ↑ "Huang Min-kon tapped as deputy secretary-general(行政院全球資訊網 - PDA(英文版)-Press Releases)". Ey.gov.tw. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  14. ↑ Online.wsj.com
  15. ↑ Weiyi Lim and Janet Ong (27 November 2010). "Taiwan's KMT Wins Most Seats in Vote, Showing Support for Pro-China Stance". Bloomberg.
  16. ↑ "WIKILEAKS: KMT rushes to deny claims about internal struggles".
  17. ↑ "Death on the High Seas: Ma issues ultimatum over fisherman’s death". Taipei Times. 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  18. ↑ http://vote2014.nat.gov.tw/en/TC/n200000000000000.html
  19. ↑ "New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu to run for Kuomintang chairman". South China Morning Post. 12 December 2014.
  20. ↑ http://vote2014.nat.gov.tw/en/TC/nm200000000000000.html
  21. ↑ http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/12/14/424023/Eric-Chu.htm
  22. ↑ "Eric Chu puts hand up for KMT role".
  23. ↑ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/17/content_19341130.htm
  24. ↑ "Would-be KMT chairman brushes off idea of meeting with Xi 'for now'".
  25. ↑ http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/12/22/424617/p2/Chu-proposes.htm
  26. ↑ "Chu registers for KMT election".
  27. ↑ "DPP challenges Chu on assets".
  28. ↑ "Taiwan's Kuomintang Seeks to Hide its Assets - Asia Sentinel". Asia Sentinel.
  29. ↑ "《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 DPP challenges Chu on assets".
  30. ↑ "Eric Chu, John Wu multimillionaires, Control Yuan says".

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Ma Ying-jeou		 Chairman of the Kuomintang
2015–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Government offices
Preceded by
Hsu Ying-shen
Acting		 Magistrate of Taoyuan County
2001–2009 		Succeeded by
Huang Min-Kon
Acting
Preceded by
Paul Chiu		 Vice Premier of the Republic of China
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Sean Chen
Preceded by
Chou Hsi-wei
as Taipei County Magistrate		 Mayor of New Taipei
2010– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent