Frank_Hsieh

Frank Hsieh

Frank Chang-ting Hsieh (Wade-Giles: Hsieh Ch'ang T'ing; Pe̍h-oē-jī: Siā Tiông-têng or Chiā Tiông-têng) (born May 18, 1946 in Dadaocheng, Datong District, Taipei) is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party. He was the mayor of Kaohsiung City until his appointment as Premier of the Republic of China by president Chen Shui-bian on February 1, 2005. He announced his resignation from the post of premier on January 17, 2006. Hsieh was the DPP nominee in the 2008 presidential election and was defeated by Ma Ying-jeou.

Early life

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Hsieh received his Bachelor of Laws degree from National Taiwan University .He was a practicing attorney from 1969 to 1981, serving as a defense attorney in the martial courts following the Kaohsiung Incident of 1980.

Hsieh is married to Yu Fang-chih (游芳枝); together, they have a daughter and an adopted son.

Rise in politics

Hsieh was one of the founding members of the Democratic Progressive Party, was the one who proposed its current name, and served as its chairman from June 2000 to 2002. A two-time Taipei City councilor from 1981 to 1988, and a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1989 to 1995, Hsieh ran in the 1996 presidential as a vice-presidential candidate with Peng Ming-min on the DPP ticket. They finished second with 21.1% of the vote. In a dramatic comeback to the surprise of many observers, Hsieh defeated the Kuomintang incumbent and won the Kaohsiung City mayoral election in 1998. He was re-elected again for a four-year term in 2002.

Kaohsiung mayoralty

In 1998, Hsieh was elected the mayor of Kaohsiung City. His administration focused on improving water qualities in surrounding rivers (the most reputable of which included the Love River) as well as a general overhaul of the port of Kaohsiung. He was also largely responsible for the establishment of Kaohsiung MRT.

Premiership and aftermath

In February 2005, Hsieh was appointed premier, forcing him to leave his post as mayor of Kaohsiung, where Chen Chi-mai was appointed the acting mayor.

Hsieh was forced to resign as premier in the aftermath of the 2005 "Three-in-One" elections in which the KMT defeated the DPP in a landslide.

As the DPP candidate for the 2006 Taipei Mayoral election, Hsieh lost the race to KMT candidate Hau Lung-pin by 166,216 votes (12.92%).

In February 2007, he led the Taiwanese delegation to the 55th annual United States National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, hosted by US Congressional Committee with dignitaries including President George W. Bush.

2008 presidential campaign

Hsieh was frequently considered to be a leading contender for the DPP nomination in the 2008 presidential election, and formally announced his intention to run in the election on February 16. Hsieh was the second to formally announce candidacy after former-KMT chairman Ma Ying-Jeou, and the first from the Democratic Progressive Party. He won 45% of the DPP primary votes and won the nomination, after the pending straw poll to be conducted May 9-11 was cancelled after his three primary opponents all conceded defeat. In July 2007, Frank Hsieh went on a trip to the United States called the trip of "Love and Trust" (「愛與信任」之旅). In September 2007, Hsieh openly declared that he was running for the presidency of the State of Taiwan (台灣國), saying that "recogniz[ing] ourselves (the Taiwanese people) as a nation first and then fight[ing] for what we want during negotiations with other countries" is important.

Hsieh has been granted many Taiwanese aboriginal names by many tribe leaders during his visits to the tribes, such as Tin Kei in Amis, V'oyu in Tsou, Hayung in Atayal, and Shaman Manida in Tao.

Regarding Ma Ying-jeou's idea of a "cross-strait common market," Hsieh states that if Taiwan only focuses on the economy, it will end up like Hong Kong and Macau, whose only goal in life is to make money. Hsieh believes that improving the economy is as important as preserving national dignity, and that the goal of economic development is more than just making money, but it is also improving the happiness of people.

Following the DPP's poor performance in the 2008 Legislative election, Hsieh replaced Chen Shui-bian as chairman of the DPP.

In January 2008, Hsieh accused candidate Ma Ying-Jeou of having a United States green card. After investigations, it was revealed that one of Ma's sisters and one of his daughters are both US citizens. Hsieh also publicly expressed that if Ma shows him the official document of his withdrawal of the green card, Hsieh would withdraw from the election. Had Hsieh been elected president, he would have been the first and only president to have adopted a Western first name.

On March 22, 2008, Hsieh lost to the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou, ending eight years of DPP rule. Hsieh had 5,445,239 votes, 41.55%; against Ma's 7,658,724, 58.45%.

The election was devastating to Hsieh and the DPP because he lost by a wider-than-expected margin of 17%. Hsieh had stated that if he lost this election, he would quit politics for good. He resigned from the DPP chairmanship in order to take responsibility for the election, a tradition in the DPP party. Tsai Ing-wen was nominated and subsequently won the chairmanship.

Party		Candidate		Votes	Percentage
Party		President	Vice president	Votes	Percentage
	Kuomintang	Ma Ying-Jeou	Vincent Siew	7,659,014	58.45%
	Democratic Progressive Party	Frank Hsieh	Su Tseng-Chang	5,444,949	41.55%
Total				13,103,963	100.00%

Although Hsieh had promised to retire from politics if he were defeated, he has not stopped addressing political issues and has recently shown signs that he is not leaving the political arena, perhaps aspiring to run in another presidential race. When asked about his vow to quit politics if he lost his presidential bid in early 2008, Hsieh responded that he was merely exaggerating for effect on the campaign trail. Hsieh has also recently shown bitterness for losing to Ma Ying-Jeou, whilst the media has shown Ma with less-than-impressive early approval ratings from citizens.