Chen Chu (Chinese:陳菊;pinyin:Chén Jú;Wade–Giles:Ch'en2 Chü2;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tân Kiok; born 10 June 1950) is aTaiwanese politician serving aspresident of the Control Yuan andchairwoman of theNational Human Rights Commission since 2020.[2][3] Before assuming her current post, Chen had served asSecretary-General to the President from 2018 to 2020 andMayor of Kaohsiung from 2006 to 2018, making her the longest-serving mayor of the city since theJapanese occupation of Taiwan. Prior to her entrance into politics, Chen was one of the eight prominent dissidents in theKaohsiung Incident arrested and charged in 1979. She was apolitical prisoner for almost six years during themartial law period in Taiwan.[4]
Chen had also served in various capacities with theTaipei andKaohsiung city governments between 1995 and 2000, with the latter being the year when she graduated from theNational Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) with amaster's degree in public affairs. She then served as Minister of theCouncil of Labor Affairs, the precursor to present-day Ministry of Labor, in variouscabinets between 2000 and 2005. Chen won the2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election and became the Republic of China's first directly-elected female mayor of a special municipality.[5] She was twice reelected in2010 and2014 with about 53% and 68% of the votes respectively.[6][7]
Nearly a month after she tendered her resignation from the role of Secretary-General to the President,[8][9] PresidentTsai Ing-wen nominated Chen, who supports abolishing altogether theExamination Yuan andControl Yuan,[10][11][12] as the next President of the Control Yuan on 22 June 2020[13] amid dissent from the opposition.[14][15][16][17][18] Legislative Yuan confirmed the nomination on a 65-3 vote[19] after days of violence in the chamber.[20][21]Lawmakers from theKuomintang and theTaiwan People's Party boycotted the vote whereas allNew Power Party lawmakers cast their dissent votes.[22][23][24]
TheDemocratic Progressive Party, which Chen helped to found, temporarily suspended her membership during her tenure as President of the Control Yuan according to party rules.[1] Chen had expressed hopes of becoming the last President of the Control Yuan[25] after helping to secure passage of theamendments to the Constitution.[26]
Chen narrowly defeated theKuomintang candidateHuang Jun-ying with a margin of just 1,120 votes in the2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election.[27] After announcement of the election result, Huang filed two lawsuits against Chen'scampaign team, requesting the court to annul the election. He arguedairing of a video, produced by Chen's campaign team, on the eve of the election resulted in his loss. TheKaohsiung District Court ruled in favor of Huang in one of the lawsuits, thus nullifying the election.[28]
Chen expressed her intention to appeal to the court upon knowing the verdict. She claimed it would be a political suicide if she accepted the ruling. While her colleague andDemocratic Progressive Party legislatorKuan Bi-ling advised Chen to concede,[28] Chen nonetheless appealed the ruling. There were speculations on whether Kuan, who lost to Chen during theprimaries, made the remark out of personal interest.[28]
TheHigh Court eventually overturned the earlier decision of the Kaohsiung District Court and revalidated the election result on 17 November 2007.[29][30] Chen announced, after alllegal proceedings against the mayoral election result had ended, that her policy priorities would be the city's transportation,infrastructure construction and environmental protection.[31]
| 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election result[32] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| 1 | Huang Jun-ying |  | 378,303 | 49.27% |
| 2 | Lin Chi-sheng (林志昇) | 1,746 | 0.23% | |
| 3 | Lo Chih-ming | 6,599 | 0.86% | |
| 4 | Lin Ching-yuan (林景元) | 1,803 | 0.23% | |
| 5 | Chen Chu | 379,417 | 49.41% | |
Chen assured the public in April 2009 she would improve thewater quality ofChienchen River, nicknamed "Heilungchiang" by the locals for its apparent pollution. She pledgedNT$120 million to implement thewater treatment project. Chen vowed to makeKaohsiung a city not just notable for the beauty of theLove River.[33]
Kaohsiung was the host city of2009 World Games. Chen visitedChina in that year to promote the Games and met with then-Mayor of BeijingGuo Jinlong. Chen addressed then-PresidentMa Ying-jeou with his formal title during the meeting with Guo, which garnered much support fromher party and theKaohsiung City Council.[34] However, she was criticized by severalTaiwanese localist groups, including theTaiwan Solidarity Union. In response, Chen said the trip was meant to be beneficial to Kaohsiung.[35] In addition to Guo, she also met with then-Mayor of ShanghaiHan Zheng and formerChinese Olympic Committee chairman Liu Pong during her trip to China.[36][37]
The main venue of the games, theWorld Games Stadium, was designed by Japanese architectToyo Ito.[38] Both thegroundbreaking and completion of the Stadium occurred during Chen's tenure of mayorship.[39][40]
The closing ceremony was held in the sold-out World Games Stadium, where President of theInternational World Games Association Ron Froehlich called the Games a "fantastic success" and declared it "the best ever".[41] Tourism Bureau of Kaohsiung announced the Games generated nearlyUS$61 million in revenue for the city. The city's department stores reported a 15-percent growth in sales. Chen said Kaohsiung would no longer be known only as thesecond largest city in Taiwan, but also the one that hosted the best World Games ever.[42]
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Chen was criticized for having a nap in her residence while many parts of Kaohsiung were flooded duringTyphoon Fanapi on 19 September 2010.[43]
Chen tearfully apologized, saying she felt guilty for taking a rest. Stressing that she returned to her residence to change her wet clothes, Chen indicated she was also keeping a close eye on the rainstorm.[44] Critics called for her immediate resignation and compared Chen's behaviour to then-PremierLiu Chao-shiuan's haircut and then-Secretary-General of theExecutive YuanHsieh Hsiang-chuan's attendance at a Father's Day dinner duringTyphoon Morakot in August 2009.[45][46]
Chen and theKaohsiung City Government were sued by Lin Chi-mei, a fellow party member and local official from Benhe Village, in the aftermath of the flooding. She alleged the local government did not maintain properly theflood control facilities.[47][48]
Chen was running against the Kuomintang candidateHuang Chao-shun and independent candidateYang Chiu-hsing in her first reelection campaign. She won the2010 Kaohsiung mayoral election with 52.80% of the votes.[49] This was the first Kaohsiung mayoral election held after the city became aspecial municipality under theLocal Government Act, which also paved the way for the merger of Kaohsiung City andKaohsiung County.[50]
| 2010 Kaohsiung mayoral election result[51] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | # | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Democratic Progressive Party | 3 | Chen Chu | 821,089 | 52.80% | .svg)  | |
.svg){kind=icon} Independent | 1 | Yang Chiu-hsing | 414,950 | 26.68% |  | |
| Kuomintang | 2 | Huang Chao-shun | 319,171 | 20.52% |  | |
| Total | 1,555,210 | 100.00% | ||||
| Voter turnout | 72.52% | |||||
Kaohsiung residents criticized Chen for taking an apathetic attitude in the2014 Kaohsiung gas explosions.[52] The Kuomintang caucus in theKaohsiung City Council sued her fornegligence which led to casualties.[53] Asubpoena was issued to Chen and three other municipal officials on 22 September 2014.[54] The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office decided on 18 December 2014 not to indict Chen.[55]
Chen launched her second reelection campaign in 2014 and defeated the Kuomintang candidateYang Chiu-hsing in themayoral election, held on 29 November 2014, with 68.09% of the votes.[56]
| 2014 Kaohsiung mayoral election result[57] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | |
| 1 | Chou Ko-sheng | Independent | 14,925 | 1.02% | |
| 2 | Chen Chu | DPP | 993,300 | 68.09% | |
| 3 | Yang Chiu-hsing | KMT | 450,647 | 30.89% | |
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Chan Huo-shen | Minister of theCouncil of Labor Affairs 2000-2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Yeh Chu-lan(Acting) | Mayor of Kaohsiung 2006–2018 | Succeeded by Hsu Li-ming(Acting) |
| Preceded by Liu Chien-sin(Acting) | Secretary-General to the President 2018–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Control Yuan 2020–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by New office | Chair of the National Human Rights Commission 2020–present | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Democratic Progressive Party Acting 2012 | Succeeded by |
| 1928—1948 (Nationalist government) | |
|---|---|
| 1948—1993 (original Constitution) | |
| 1993—present (amended Constitution) | |
"*" indicates acting | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
