Chang San-cheng (Chinese: 張善政; pinyin: Zhāng Shànzhèng; born 24 June 1954),[1] also known by his English name Simon Chang,[2] is a Taiwanese politician who has been the mayor of Taoyuan City since 25 December 2022. He was premier of Taiwan from 1 February 2016 (de facto; 18 January 2016 as the acting premier) until 20 May 2016, appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou.[3] Before assuming the premiership, he had served as vice premier from 8 December 2014 under the Mao Chi-kuo cabinet.[4][5][6][7] Chang was the first nonpartisan premier of Taiwan.
Chang San-cheng | |
|---|---|
張善政 | |
.jpg) Official portrait, 2022 | |
| 2nd Mayor of Taoyuan | |
| Assumed office 25 December 2022 | |
| Deputy | See list
|
| Preceded by | Cheng Wen-tsan |
| 27th Prime Minister of Taiwan | |
| In office 1 February 2016 – 20 May 2016 Acting: 18 January 2016 – 1 February 2016 | |
| President | Ma Ying-jeou |
| Deputy | Woody Duh |
| Preceded by | Mao Chi-kuo |
| Succeeded by | Lin Chuan |
| 33rd Deputy Prime Minister of Taiwan | |
| In office 7 December 2014 – 1 February 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Mao Chi-kuo Himself (acting) |
| Preceded by | Mao Chi-kuo |
| Succeeded by | Woody Duh |
| 1st Minister of Science and Technology | |
| In office 3 March 2014 – 7 December 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Jiang Yi-huah |
| Deputy | Lin Yi-bing |
| Preceded by | Cyrus Chu as Minister of National Science Council |
| Succeeded by | Lin Yi-bing (Acting) |
| Minister without Portfolio | |
| In office 6 February 2012 – 2 March 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah |
| Succeeded by | Chiang Been-huang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 June 1954[1] Taipei, Taiwan |
| Nationality | Taiwan |
| Political party | Kuomintang (since 2022) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (before 2022) |
| Alma mater | National Taiwan University (BS) Stanford University (MS) Cornell University (PhD) |
Chang began an independent campaign for the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election, then suspended his run to join the Kuomintang ticket, headed by Han Kuo-yu. The pair lost to incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen and her running mate William Lai.
Education
editChang earned his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in civil engineering from National Taiwan University in 1976. In 1977, he finished his master's degree in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. In 1981, he earned a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Cornell University.[8]
Early career
editUpon graduation, Chang returned to Taiwan to serve as a lecturer, associate professor and finally, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of National Taiwan University from 1981 to 1990. He was the Director for National Center for High-Performance Computing from 1991 to 1997. From 1998 to 2000, he was the Director of the Department of Planning and Evaluation of National Science Council. Between 2000 and 2010, he worked for Acer Inc. as Vice President of the e-Enabling Service Business Group, and between 2010 and 2012, he worked for Google as the Director of Google's hardware operations in Asia.[9]
Political career
editChang was first appointed and involved in politics as a minister without portfolio of the Executive Yuan in 2012 under the Sean Chen cabinet. On March 3, 2014, the National Science Council was upgraded to the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chang was named as its first minister. On December 8, 2014, after the ruling Kuomintang lost the local elections, Chang became the vice premier after a cabinet reshuffle.
Caretaker Premiership (2016)
edit
On January 16, 2016, after the KMT lost the presidency and its majority in the Legislative Yuan at the 2016 Taiwanese general election, the then-incumbent premier Mao Chi-kuo resigns and refuse to stay at the position, Chang served as the acting premier while Mao is outgoing.
On 1 February, the then-incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou approve resignation of Mao Chi-kuo, and appointed Chang to form the cabinet to serve the remaining four months during the period of transition of power. As a result, Chang became the first nonpartisan premier of the history in Taiwan's politics.
2020 presidential campaign
editChang announced his independent candidacy for the 2020 Taiwan presidential election on 17 February 2019.[10] Chang later joined the presidential campaign of Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu as an adviser without halting his own campaign.[11][12] In August 2019, Han formed a national policy advisory group headed by Chang.[13] Chang's selection as the Kuomintang's 2020 Taiwan presidential election vice presidential candidate was announced on 11 November 2019.[14][15]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | Vice president | |||||
| Democratic Progressive Party | Tsai Ing-wen | William Lai | 8,170,231 | 57.13% | ||
 Kuomintang
|
Han Kuo-yu | Chang San-cheng | 5,522,119 | 38.61% | ||
 People First Party
|
James Soong | Sandra Yu | 608,590 | 4.26% | ||
| Total | 14,300,940 | 100% | ||||
| Valid votes | 14,300,940 | 98.87% | ||||
| Invalid votes | 163,631 | 1.13% | ||||
| Votes cast / turnout | 14,464,571 | 74.90% | ||||
| Eligible voters | 19,311,105 | |||||
Later political career
editIn May 2022, Chang was nominated by the Kuomintang as its candidate in the local elections for the Taoyuan mayoralty after a closed-door meeting of the party's Central Standing Committee.[16] Chang was elected by 52.02% percentage of votes and assumed office in December 2022.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "桃園市第3屆市長選舉選舉公報" (PDF). Central Election Commission (in Chinese). November 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Cabinet secretary-general to head MOI". The China Post. 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "Vice Premier Chang San-cheng to assume premiership". Executive Yuan. 25 January 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ "Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan)-Executive Yuan Officials". Ey.gov.tw. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2014-02-26.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Exclusive Interview with Chang San-cheng, Minister without Portfolio, Executive Yuan". Web.iii.org.tw. 2012-03-26. Archived from the original on 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ to 1 February 2016 "Premier picks new ministers in reshuffle". Taipei Times. 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "Chang San-cheng named Minister of Science and Technology(Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan)-Press Releases)". Ey.gov.tw. 2014-02-26. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
- ^ "行政院全球資訊網". www.ey.gov.tw. 1 December 2011.
- ^ Lee, Hsin-fang (17 February 2019). "Former premier Simon Chang seeks 2020 presidential run as independent". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ Yu, Hsiang; Hsu, Elizabeth (30 July 2019). "'1992 consensus' no longer useful: Han Kuo-yu chief adviser". Central News Agency. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Wang, Shwu-fen; Kao, Evelyn (30 July 2019). "Han Kuo-yu to establish campaign headquarters in Kaohsiung". Central News Agency. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Chen, Yun; Shih, Hsiao-kuang; Chung, Jake (18 August 2019). "Han announces creation of policy advisory group". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ Maxon, Ann (12 November 2019). "Han picks ex-premier as running mate". Taipei Times. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
- ^ Yu, Hsiang; Wang, Shu-fen; Lim, Emerson (11 November 2019). "Analysts hold split views on Han's selection of running mate". Central News Agency. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
- ^ Liu, Kuan-ting; Shih, Hsiu-chuan (18 May 2022). "KMT picks ex-Premier Simon Chang to run for Taoyuan mayor". Central News Agency. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
External links
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