Eric Chu | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
朱立倫 | |||||||||
 Official portrait, 2017 | |||||||||
| 7th & 11th Chairman of the Kuomintang | |||||||||
| In office 5 October 2021 – 1 November 2025 | |||||||||
| Deputy | |||||||||
| Secretary General | Justin Huang | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Johnny Chiang | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Cheng Li-wun | ||||||||
| In office 19 January 2015 – 16 January 2016 | |||||||||
| Deputy | See list | ||||||||
| Secretary General | Lee Shu-chuan | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Ma Ying-jeou Wu Den-yih(Acting) | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Huang Min-hui(Acting) Hung Hsiu-chu | ||||||||
| 1st Mayor of New Taipei | |||||||||
| In office 25 December 2010 – 25 December 2018[a] | |||||||||
| Deputy | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Chou Hsi-wei(asMagistrate of Taipei County) | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Hou Yu-ih | ||||||||
| 29th 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 the Consumer Protection Commission | |||||||||
| In office 10 September 2009 – 17 May 2010 | |||||||||
| Premier | Wu Den-yih | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Paul Chiu | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sean Chen | ||||||||
| 11thMagistrate of Taoyuan | |||||||||
| In office 20 December 2001 – 10 September 2009 | |||||||||
| Deputy | Huang Min-kon | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Hsu Ying-shen(Acting) | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Huang Min-kon(Acting) | ||||||||
| Member of the Legislative Yuan | |||||||||
| In office 1 February 1999 – 20 December 2001 | |||||||||
| Constituency | Taoyuan County | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | (1961-06-07)7 June 1961 (age 64) Bade, Taoyuan, Taiwan | ||||||||
| Party | Kuomintang | ||||||||
| Spouse | Kao Wan-ching | ||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||
| Education | National Taiwan University (BA) New York University (MBA,PhD) | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
| Scientific career | |||||||||
| Fields | Applied statistics | ||||||||
| Thesis | Market-based Accounting Research: An International Comparison and New Evidence (1991) | ||||||||
| Doctoral advisor | Joshua Ronen | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 朱立倫 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 朱立伦 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Eric Li-luan Chu[1] (Chinese:朱立倫;pinyin:Zhū Lìlún; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician, statistician, and academic who served as thechairman of the Kuomintang from 2015 to 2016 and from 2021 to 2025.[2]
Chu was born to a political family inTaoyuan and graduated fromNational Taiwan University. After earning his doctorate fromNew York University in 1991, he began an academic career as anaccounting professor and entered politics as a member of theLegislative Yuan in 1999. He was themagistrate of Taoyuan County from 2001 to 2009. From 2009 to 2010, he served as thevice premier of the Republic of China underWu Den-yih, then was elected as the firstmayor of New Taipei in 2010.
On 17 January 2015, he was elected unopposed as the chairman of the Kuomintang, succeedingMa Ying-jeou. On 17 October 2015, he was chosen as KMT candidate for the2016 presidential election replacing incumbent candidateHung Hsiu-chu. Chu was defeated by his opponentTsai Ing-wen, and subsequently resigned his post as KMT chairman.[3] As a result of the2021 Kuomintang chairmanship election, he returned to his former post as chairman of the party.
Chu was born on 7 June 1961, inBade City,Taoyuan County.[4] Hisancestral home is inYiwu,Zhejiang.[5] His father, Chang-hsing (朱樟興;d. 2025),[6] was a local politician in Taoyuan County who served in the local legislature and in theNational Assembly.[7] Chu's uncle, Lin Hsi-da, was a member of theDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) who served as mayor ofDaxi Township; Chu's mother is also from Daxi.[8] His father-in-law, Taiwanese politician and businessmanKao Yu-jen, formerly served as a Kuomintang legislator.[7][9]
Chu attendedTaipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, where he was classmates withJiang Yi-huah andLai Ching-te,[10] and originally studied science before switching toliberal arts in his second year.[11] After graduating in 1978,[12] he studiedbusiness administration as an undergraduate atNational Taiwan University and received aBachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1983. He then completed military service in theRepublic of China Armed Forces and pursued doctoral studies in the United States atNew York University, where he earned aMaster of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in finance in 1987 and hisPh.D. inaccounting andapplied statistics in 1991 from theNew York University Stern School of Business.[13]
As a graduate student at NYU, Chu received a scholarship to complete his studies and met his wife, Kao Wan-ching (高婉倩), who was a doctoral student atColumbia University studyingmass communications.[14] Chu's doctoral dissertation, completed under accounting professorJoshua Ronen, was titled, "Market-Based Accounting Research: An International Comparison and New Evidence".[15] The thesis examined therate of returns in theTaiwan Stock Exchange compared to those in U.S. markets.[15]
After receiving his doctorate, Chu worked as anassistant professor at theCity University of New York from 1990 to 1992, then returned to Taiwan and became anassociate professor (1992–1997) and then full professor (1997–2001) of accounting atNational Taiwan University.[13] His expertise included accounting,financial analysis, andpublic policy.[16] In 1995, Chu was avisiting professor atPeking University.[17] He has continued to teach graduate accounting courses part-time at National Taiwan University since 2020.[18] In October 2020, Chu also taught accounting atSoochow University as its Yen Chia-kan Chair Professor.[19]
Chu joined theKuomintang in 1977.[20] He ran in theRepublic of China legislative election held on 5 December 1998, was elected as aKuomintang legislator, and took office on 1 February 1999. During his office term, he focused on financial and economic issues of Taiwan.[21]
In 2000, he was appointed Chairman of the Budgetary Committee and the Finance Committee of theLegislative Yuan. He served in these positions for one year until 2001.[22]
Chu won the2001 Taoyuan County Magistrate election held on 1 December 2001 as a member of then-oppositionKuomintang, defeatingDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidatePerng Shaw-jiin.[23][24]
Chu ran for re-election in the2005 Republic of China local election on 3 December 2005 and defeated DPP challengerCheng Pao-ching, CEO ofTaiwan Salt Company. He then took office for his second term as magistrate on 20 December 2005.[25]
During his second term asMagistrate ofTaoyuan County, Chu concurrently served as the Vice Chairman ofKuomintang from November 2008 until October 2009.[26]
Chu was tapped by PresidentMa Ying-jeou to be the Vice Premier toWu Den-yih on 7 September 2009, in a reshuffling of theExecutive Yuan due to the slow disaster response toTyphoon Morakot.[27][28] Chu's position as Magistrate of Taoyuan County was succeeded by Deputy MagistrateHuang Min-kon.[29] At the age of 48, Chu was the youngestVice Premier in ROC history.[30]
On 13 May 2010, Chu submitted his resignation to Premier Wu to run for mayor of the newly createdNew Taipei City, the successor ofTaipei County.[31]Financial Supervisory Commission chairpersonSean Chen was tapped to succeed Chu as deputy premier.[32]
In May 2010 before theNew 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 ChairwomanTsai Ing-wen on 27 November 2010, to become the first mayor of New Taipei on 25 December 2010.[33][34] He namedHou Yu-ih,Hsu Chih-chien, andLee Shih-chuan deputy mayors of the city.[35] Hou and Chen Shen-hsien shared the deputy mayoral post soon after Lee was named Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan on 25 February 2014 and Hsu had stepped down on 30 June 2014 due to health concerns.[36][37][38][39]
The content of some of Chu's conversations withStephen Young of theAmerican Institute in Taiwan was included inUS diplomatic cables that were leaked in 2011. Chu claims that those cables do not accurately reflect the content of his conversations with Young.[40]
TheGuang Da Xing No. 28 was fishing indisputed water in theSouth China Sea on 9 May 2013 when thePhilippine Coast Guard opened fire on the Taiwanese fishing boat. Chu condemned the shooting and said that he would suspend all of the exchanges betweenNew Taipei City and the Philippines until the Philippine government apologized for the incident, compensated the victim's family and prosecuted the perpetrators.[41]
On 29 November 2014, Chu won theNew Taipei City mayoralty election, defeating his opponentYu Shyi-kun of theDemocratic Progressive Party. He had been expected to win a landslide victory,[42][43] but he won by slightly more than 1% of the vote total.[44] His second mayoral term started on 25 December 2014.[45]
On 17 January 2015, Chu ran unopposed in theKMT chairmanship election.[46] He was the only candidate to have registered and paid theNT$2 million registration fee.[47] He succeededMa Ying-jeou, who had resigned on 3 December 2014 to take responsibility for KMT losses in theROC local election on 29 November 2014.[48]
Prior to the election, Chu said he had not yet decided on meeting withCommunist PartyGeneral SecretaryXi Jinping after being elected as KMT chairman.[49] 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."[50] On 4 May 2015, Chumet with Xi Jinping inBeijing.[51][52]
During his first term as party chair, Chu also acknowledged that theKMT accumulated much of its wealth illegally, and that these assets should be returned to the nation.[53] In 2000 Chu claimed that these assets total US$3.15 billion;[54] 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.[55] After Chu announced his candidacy for KMT Chairmanship, however, he claimed not to know what assets are held or what their value might be.[56]
Though Chu had repeatedly refused to run in the2016 presidential election,[57][58] he was chosen to be the preferred candidate over the incumbentHung Hsiu-chu in a KMT congress held atSun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on 17 October 2015.[59] 812 of 891 KMT members in attendance voted to replace Hung with Chu.[60] In a post-election speech, Chu apologized to Hung for her dismissal, but continued by saying the KMT had reached a crucial point where it needed to adjust its pace and start anew. He also apologized to New Taipei residents for breaking his promise to serve as mayor until his term ended.[61][62] The party's decision to replace Hung had been made prior to the meeting, and Chu had apologized to Hung multiple times for the way the party had treated her.[63][64]
On 19 October 2015, Chu announced his intention to temporarily leave mayoral duties to Deputy MayorHou Yu-ih starting the next day.[65] Chu planned to take three months of leave, to focus on his presidential campaign. The monthly salary of NT$190,500 Chu would have collected during this time was to be donated to the New Taipei City treasury.[66]
Chu suffered an enormous defeat in the 2016 presidential election, losing 18 of 23 counties. He resigned the KMT chairmanship, and returned to the New Taipei City mayorship on 18 January 2016.[67][61][68]
Chu announced that he would run in the2021 Kuomintang chairmanship election on 2 August 2021.[69][70] He finished first of four candidates on 25 September 2021,[71][72] and took office on 5 October 2021.[73][74]
Chu also expressed pride in being a KMT member for 48 years, thanking the many friends who have quietly supported and encouraged him throughout his political career, including during his terms as party chairman from 2014 to 2016 and again from 2021 to 2025.
Media related toEric Chu at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toEric Chu at Wikiquote| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Magistrate of Taoyuan 2001–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice Premier of the Republic of China 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Magistrate of Taipei | Mayor of New Taipei 2010–2015, 2016–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Kuomintang 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Kuomintang nominee forPresident of the Republic of China 2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Kuomintang 2021–2025 | Succeeded by |
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Notes: Acting leadersitalicised ; By-elections denoted with (b) | ||
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