Outgoing Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was considered to be the frontrunner in the ruling party's primary for next year's presidential election when he announced his bid three months ago.
But following an acrimonious primary, Su conceded defeat after his main opponent, former premier Frank Hsieh (
Eloquent, vibrant and aggressive, Su, 59, is a former human rights lawyer and a co-founder of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Su graduated from National Taiwan University and worked as a lawyer for 10 years before moving into politics.
Like President Chen Shui-bian (
Dubbed the "Kaohsiung Incident," thousands took to the streets of the southern city to demand greater political freedom in the first public expression of dissent against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Hundreds of people, including 140 police, were injured in clashes between police and protesters and scores of opposition leaders, including Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), were rounded up and jailed.
Motivated by the injustice surrounding the incident, Su began defending dissidents charged with treason before deciding to enter politics himself. In 1981, he was elected to the now defunct Taiwan Provincial Council and re-elected four years later.
Su helped found the DPP in 1986 in defiance of a ban on new parties imposed by the KMT.
The DPP, which won the presidency in 2000, ended the KMT's half-century rule of the nation.
Su, a father of three, was elected as Pingtung County commissioner in 1989, but failed to get re-elected in controversial polls four years later.
He won a seat in the Legislative Yuan in 1995 and became Taipei County commissioner, the largest constituency on the island, in 1997. He was re-elected in 2001.
Su was chosen as Chen's chief of the staff in 2004 and was elected DPP chairman the following year.
He resigned in December that year as chairman to take responsibility for the DPP's defeat in local elections.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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