Yu Shyi-kun
Encyclopedia
Yu Shyi-kun (born April 25, 1948), a Taiwanese
politician of the Democratic Progressive Party
, is a former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan
. He previously served as Premier of the Republic of China
from 2002 to 2005. As one of the founding members of the DPP, he is seen as a loyalist of President Chen Shui-bian
.
, Yilan County, Yu was raised in a poor tenant farming family. When he was 13, his house was destroyed by flood waters during Typhoon Pamela, and his father died of tuberculosis in the same year. He quit junior high school to work full-time on his family farm.
At 19, he studied at the supplementary night school of the Lotung Commercial High School. He moved to Taipei
to enroll in the supplementary school of the Hsihu Commercial and Industrial High School. He studied international commerce at the Chihlee Institute of Technology (致理商專) and public administration at the National Chung Hsing University
. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
in politics in Tunghai University
in 1985 at the age of 37.
, and Hsieh San-sheng made the so-called "iron triangle" in the Assembly. The three were the only members ever to resign from the Assembly.
From 1983 to 1984 he was the Tangwai
Secretary-General. He became Convener of Tangwai National Election Backing Committee in 1986. As a founding member of the Democratic Progressive Party
, he was a member of its Central Committee from 1984 to 1986 and its Central Standing Committee from 1986 to 1990 when he was elected a Magistrate of Ilan County, during which he was a member of the Educational Reform Committee of the Executive Yuan from 1994 to 1996. In his second term of magistrate, Environmental Protection (環保立縣), Tourism (觀光立縣), Information Promotion (資訊立縣), and Culture (文化立縣) were his four main goals in administration. The successful planning and execution let him ranked the first one of 27 mayors/magistrates in Taiwan. After the completion of his two terms as magistrate in 1997, he was in 1998 appointed Chairman of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation by then Mayor Chen Shui-bian
. He resigned in 1999 to become Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party.
He was the chief spokesman for the DPP campaign in the 2000 presidential election
. With Chen Shui-bian's election to the presidency
, he was appointed Vice Premier under Premier Tang Fei
.
In July 2000, four construction workers were trapped by the rising floodwaters of Pachang Creek. As local and central government authorities squabbled for three hours over who would send out a rescue helicopter, the men drowned. In the public outrage that ensued, officials up the chain of command, including Premier Tang, tendered their resignations. Vice Premier Yu, who was also chairman of the Committee of Disaster Relief and Prevention, had his resignation accepted.
Six months later, Yu rejoined the administration as Secretary-General to the Office of the President and served until his promotion to the premiership on February 1, 2002.
and promoted a NT$610.8 billion arms procurement package in 2004. He caused some minor controversy when he used the designation "Taiwan, ROC" on an official visit to Honduras. Chen later said he preferred "Taiwan." In September 2004, he directed the government to refer to the People's Republic of China
in official documents as simply "China" as opposed to "mainland China
" or "Communist China" as was previously done in order to highlight a "separate Taiwanese identity." This move was not endorsed by the Presidential Office and the Mainland Affairs Council
clarified that it would only apply to internal documents.
Yu and his cabinet resigned en masse following the pan-Green Coalition failure to gain a majority in the 2004 legislative elections
. In the ensuing cabinet shuffle, Yu was returned to the presidential office as secretary-general and succeeded as premier by Frank Hsieh
.
On January 15, 2006 he was elected chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party with 54% of the vote.
Yu was a candidate for the DPP nomination for the 2008 presidential election
. But he could win only 22,211 of the 140,720 votes, and declared his withdrawal in favor of former premier Frank Hsieh
, who won 62,849 votes.
Yu is the founder of Kavalan Journal (噶瑪蘭雜誌), which is named after the Kavalan
Taiwanese aborigines. With Yang Pao-yu, whom he married in 1978, he has two sons.
and National Security Office secretary-general Mark Chen
were also indicted on corruption charges on the same day.
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
politician of the Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
, is a former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. He previously served as Premier of the Republic of China
Premier of the Republic of China
The President of the Executive Yuan , commonly known as the Premier of the Republic of China , is the head of the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the Republic of China , which currently administers Taiwan, Matsu, and Kinmen. The premier is appointed by the President of the Republic of China...
from 2002 to 2005. As one of the founding members of the DPP, he is seen as a loyalist of President Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
.
Personal background
Born in Taihe Village (太和村), Dongshan TownshipDongshan, Yilan
Dongshan is a rural township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan. Republic of China.* Area: 79.86 km²* Population: 50,754 people -Transportation:Dongshan is served by the Yilan Line of Taiwan Railway Administration....
, Yilan County, Yu was raised in a poor tenant farming family. When he was 13, his house was destroyed by flood waters during Typhoon Pamela, and his father died of tuberculosis in the same year. He quit junior high school to work full-time on his family farm.
At 19, he studied at the supplementary night school of the Lotung Commercial High School. He moved to Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
to enroll in the supplementary school of the Hsihu Commercial and Industrial High School. He studied international commerce at the Chihlee Institute of Technology (致理商專) and public administration at the National Chung Hsing University
National Chung Hsing University
National Chung Hsing University is a university in Taichung, Republic of China . According to Ministry of Education rankings, it is the best university in central Taiwan.-History:...
. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in politics in Tunghai University
Tunghai University
Tunghai University was founded by Methodist missionaries in 1955 as a comprehensive university. It is a top-ranked private school and a leading institution in Taiwan. Moreover, Tunghai University was founded as the first private university making it the second oldest university in Taiwan, which...
in 1985 at the age of 37.
Rise in politics
In 1981 he was elected a member of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly for Yilan County. Yu, Su Tseng-changSu Tseng-chang
Su Tseng-chang is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party. He is the former Premier of the Republic of China. Su actively campaigned for the Presidential nomination of the DPP, but finished second to Frank Hsieh in the nomination process...
, and Hsieh San-sheng made the so-called "iron triangle" in the Assembly. The three were the only members ever to resign from the Assembly.
From 1983 to 1984 he was the Tangwai
Tangwai
The Tangwai movement was a political movement in the Republic of China in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Although the Kuomintang had allowed contested elections for a small number of seats in Legislative Yuan, opposition parties were still forbidden...
Secretary-General. He became Convener of Tangwai National Election Backing Committee in 1986. As a founding member of the Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
, he was a member of its Central Committee from 1984 to 1986 and its Central Standing Committee from 1986 to 1990 when he was elected a Magistrate of Ilan County, during which he was a member of the Educational Reform Committee of the Executive Yuan from 1994 to 1996. In his second term of magistrate, Environmental Protection (環保立縣), Tourism (觀光立縣), Information Promotion (資訊立縣), and Culture (文化立縣) were his four main goals in administration. The successful planning and execution let him ranked the first one of 27 mayors/magistrates in Taiwan. After the completion of his two terms as magistrate in 1997, he was in 1998 appointed Chairman of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation by then Mayor Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
. He resigned in 1999 to become Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party.
He was the chief spokesman for the DPP campaign in the 2000 presidential election
ROC presidential election, 2000
The Election for the 10th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China , the second ever direct elections for President and Vice President of the Republic of China on Taiwan and the 10th under the 1947 Constitution, were held on March 18, 2000...
. With Chen Shui-bian's election to the presidency
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
, he was appointed Vice Premier under Premier Tang Fei
Tang Fei
Tang Fei is a retired ROC Air Force General and the Premier of the Republic of China between May 20 and October 6, 2000 under the Chen Shui-bian Government, even though he was a member of the Kuomintang during his tenure as premier.-Biography:...
.
In July 2000, four construction workers were trapped by the rising floodwaters of Pachang Creek. As local and central government authorities squabbled for three hours over who would send out a rescue helicopter, the men drowned. In the public outrage that ensued, officials up the chain of command, including Premier Tang, tendered their resignations. Vice Premier Yu, who was also chairman of the Committee of Disaster Relief and Prevention, had his resignation accepted.
Six months later, Yu rejoined the administration as Secretary-General to the Office of the President and served until his promotion to the premiership on February 1, 2002.
Premiership
As premier, Yu defended the administration's position on the peace referendumROC referendum, 2004
A nation-wide consultative referendum was held in the Republic of China on March 20, 2004 to coincide with the 2004 presidential election. Voters were asked two questions regarding relations with the People's Republic of China...
and promoted a NT$610.8 billion arms procurement package in 2004. He caused some minor controversy when he used the designation "Taiwan, ROC" on an official visit to Honduras. Chen later said he preferred "Taiwan." In September 2004, he directed the government to refer to the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in official documents as simply "China" as opposed to "mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
" or "Communist China" as was previously done in order to highlight a "separate Taiwanese identity." This move was not endorsed by the Presidential Office and the Mainland Affairs Council
Mainland Affairs Council
The Mainland Affairs Council is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of policies between the Free Area of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, and the People's...
clarified that it would only apply to internal documents.
Yu and his cabinet resigned en masse following the pan-Green Coalition failure to gain a majority in the 2004 legislative elections
ROC legislative election, 2004
The Election for the 6th Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China on Taiwan was held on December 11, 2004. All 225 seats of the Legislative Yuan were up for election: 168 elected by popular vote, 41 elected on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political...
. In the ensuing cabinet shuffle, Yu was returned to the presidential office as secretary-general and succeeded as premier by Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh Chang-ting is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party in the Republic of China. He was the mayor of Kaohsiung City until his appointment as President of the Executive Yuan by president Chen Shui-bian on February 1, 2005. He announced his resignation from the post of...
.
On January 15, 2006 he was elected chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party with 54% of the vote.
Yu was a candidate for the DPP nomination for the 2008 presidential election
ROC presidential election, 2008
The election for the 12th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China was held in the Republic of China on Saturday, March 22, 2008. Kuomintang nominee Ma Ying-jeou won with 58% of the vote, ending eight years of Democratic Progressive Party rule...
. But he could win only 22,211 of the 140,720 votes, and declared his withdrawal in favor of former premier Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh
Frank Hsieh Chang-ting is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party in the Republic of China. He was the mayor of Kaohsiung City until his appointment as President of the Executive Yuan by president Chen Shui-bian on February 1, 2005. He announced his resignation from the post of...
, who won 62,849 votes.
Yu is the founder of Kavalan Journal (噶瑪蘭雜誌), which is named after the Kavalan
Kavalan people
The Kavalan or Kuvalan are an indigenous people of Taiwan, part of the larger Taiwanese aborigine ethnic group. The Kavalan originally inhabited modern-day Yilan County. Most of them moved to the coastal area of Hualien County and Taitung County in the 19th century...
Taiwanese aborigines. With Yang Pao-yu, whom he married in 1978, he has two sons.
Alleged corruption charges
On September 21, 2007, Yu was indicted on charges of corruption by the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Taiwan. Yu faces charges of embezzlement and of using false receipts to write-off expenses totaling over US$70,000 from a special governmental account. He resigned his post as chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party later that same day. Vice President Annette LuAnnette Lu
Annette Lu Hsiu-lien , was the Vice President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008, under Chen Shui-bian. She announced her intentions to run for President of Taiwan on March 6, 2007, but withdrew in order to support DPP presidential nominee, Frank Hsieh...
and National Security Office secretary-general Mark Chen
Mark Chen
Mark Chen Tang-shan , born September 16, 1935, in Tainan County , Taiwan, is a Taiwanese politician, former Secretary-General of the Office of the President of the Republic of China under ex-President Chen Shui-bian. He was also previously Foreign Minister of the ROC from 2004 to 2006...
were also indicted on corruption charges on the same day.