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James Soong | |
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宋楚瑜 Soong Chu-yu | |
 Official portrait, 2016 | |
| 1st Chairman of the People First Party | |
| Assumed office 31 March 2000 | |
| Deputy | Chang Chau-hsiung |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Senior Advisor to the President | |
| In office 9 November 2016 – 2 May 2019 | |
| President | Tsai Ing-wen |
| 1st Governor of Taiwan Province | |
| In office 20 December 1994 – 20 December 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Position established[a] |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| In office 20 March 1993 – 20 December 1994 | |
| Appointed by | Executive Yuan |
| Prime Minister | Lien Chan |
| Preceded by | Lien Chan |
| Succeeded by | Chao Shou-po |
| Minister of the Government Information Office | |
| In office 25 January 1979 – 24 August 1984 | |
| Prime Minister | Sun Yun-suan |
| Preceded by | Ting Mao-shih |
| Succeeded by | Chang King-yuh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 April 1942 Xiangtan, Hunan, Republic of China |
| Political party | People First Party (2000–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Kuomintang (1981–1999)[1] Independent (1999–2000) |
| Spouse | Viola Chen (1968–2011) |
| Education | National Chengchi University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (MA) Catholic University of America (MS) Georgetown University (PhD) |
| James Soong | |||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 宋楚瑜 | ||||||||||||||||
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James Soong Chu-yu (traditional Chinese: 宋楚瑜; born 30 April 1942) is a Taiwanese politician who is the founder and chairman of the People First Party. Soong was the first and only elected governor of Taiwan Province from 1994 and 1998. He was a candidate in the 2000 presidential election, which he lost to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong graduated from National Chengchi University and was educated in the United States, where he earned a Ph.D. in political science at Georgetown University. He began his political career as a secretary to Premier Chiang Ching-kuo (later president) and rose to prominence as director-general of the Government Information Office (GIO) from 1979 to 1984. Upon Chiang's death, Soong was instrumental in silencing conservatives in the KMT from blocking the ascendancy of Lee Teng-hui as KMT leader. Soong was the only elected governor of Taiwan Province from 1994 to 1998, before the streamlining of the provincial government.
After failing to gain the KMT nomination, Soong ran as an independent in the 2000 presidential election. Though he placed second, his candidacy split the pan-Blue vote between himself and the KMT candidate, Vice President Lien Chan, leading to the victory of DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian. In the 2004 presidential election, he ran as vice president on the ticket of Lien Chan; they narrowly lost to Chen Shui-bian. Soong ran again as a candidate in the 2012 presidential race, garnering 2.77% of popular support. Soong's third presidential campaign in 2016 formed a split ticket with Minkuotang chairwoman Hsu Hsin-ying and won 12.84% of the vote. His 2020 campaign with running mate Sandra Yu finished last, with 4.2% of the vote.[2] In 2022 his name appeared in the Suisse secrets revelations.[citation needed]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Tedards, Bo (15 March 2000). "The many faces of James Soong". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
2020 electionwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).