Jaw Shaw-kong
趙少康
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 1993 – 6 December 1994
ConstituencyTaipei County
In office
1 February 1987 – 31 May 1991
ConstituencyTaipei 1
Convenor of the New Party National Committee
In office
10 August 1993 – 2 May 1994
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byYok Mu-ming
Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration
In office
1 June 1991 – 15 November 1992
PremierHau Pei-tsun
Preceded byEugene Chien
Succeeded byLarry Chen (acting)
Member of the Taipei City Council
In office
25 December 1982 – 31 January 1986
Constituency2nd district
Personal details
Born (1950-05-06) 6 May 1950
Keelung, Taiwan
Political partyKuomintang (1968–1994, 2021–present)
New Party (1993–2002)
SpouseLiang Lei
EducationNational Taiwan University (BS)
Clemson University (MS)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese趙少康
Simplified Chinese赵少康

Jaw Shaw-kong (Chinese: 趙少康; pinyin: Zhào Shǎokāng; born 6 May 1950) is a Taiwanese media personality and politician.

Jaw served a single term on the Taipei City Council before being elected to the Legislative Yuan from 1987 to 1991 and 1993 to 1994. In 1993, he co-founded the pro-unification New Party, which he briefly led until 1994. Between Legislative Yuan stints, Jaw led the Environmental Protection Administration. In November 2023, the Kuomintang (KMT) nominated him as the vice presidential candidate in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election.

Early life and education

Jaw was born on 6 May 1950 in Keelung, Taiwan Province and moved to Luodong Township, Yilan County growing up.[1][2] His ancestral home is in Hebei where his father, Jaw Yan-min, was born in 1922, and served in the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army and recruited in the Whampoa Military Academy when he was 16. He fought for the NRA in the Chinese Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War before the KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949.[3]

Jaw earned a degree in agricultural engineering from National Taiwan University in 1972, then attended Clemson University in the United States, where he obtained a master's degree in mechanical engineering.[4][5]

Political career

Jaw was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981 and served until 1986, when he was elected to the Legislative Yuan.[6] In June 1991, he began serving as head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).[5][7] In 1992, against the wishes of his party, the Kuomintang, Jaw resigned from the EPA to seek reelection to the legislature.[8] Despite the party's refusal to support him, Jaw won a record number of votes.[8][9] He later became a member of the New Kuomintang Alliance and the Breakfast Club, set up in opposition to party chairman Lee Teng-hui.[8][10] In August 1993, he and other members of the New Kuomintang Alliance split from the Kuomintang and co-founded the pro-unification New Party.[11][12]

In 1994, Jaw resigned his legislative seat to contest to the Taipei City mayoralty on behalf of the New Party,[13][14] but lost to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian.[9][15] Although the pan-Blue forces gained the majority of the votes overall, the vote was split between Jaw and Kuomintang candidate Huang Ta-chou, granting Chen victory in the election.[16]

1994 Taipei City mayoral election result
Party # Candidate Votes Percentage
Independent 1 Ji Rong-zhi (紀榮治) 3,941 0.28%
New Party 2 Jaw Shaw-kong 424,905 30.17%
Democratic Progressive Party 3 Chen Shui-bian 615,090 43.67%
Kuomintang 4 Huang Ta-chou 364,618 25.89%
Total 1,408,554 100.00%
Voter turnout

Media career

Jaw announced his intention to retire from politics in July 1996.[17] Soon after announcing his withdrawal from politics in 1996, Jaw founded UFO Radio.[18] He also owned News98 and served as its president.[19][20] In 2006, Jaw acquired the Broadcasting Corporation of China.[21] He has also hosted his own radio and television programs.[22][23][24]

In 2004, Jaw was invited to debate the referendum on Cross-Strait relations.[25] He was named an adviser to Kuomintang candidates during the 2010 election cycle.[26] In 2017, Jaw reiterated that he was an independent.[27]

Return to politics

Jaw announced his interest about returning to politics in February 2021, disclosing that he had met with Han Kuo-yu in September 2020, who told Jaw that he should return to the Kuomintang and run for the party leadership.[28][29] The restoration of Jaw's party membership was announced on 3 February 2021,[30] and he subsequently expressed interest in contesting the 2021 party leadership election,[30] as well as the primary for the 2024 presidential election cycle.[31][32] Jaw stated on 28 April 2021 that he was no longer considering a run for the Kuomintang chairmanship.[33][34]

On 24 November 2023, the Kuomintang named Jaw its vice presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election.[35]

Political positions

Jaw is a staunch supporter of unification with China,[36] albeit not under the People's Republic of China,[37] and believes unification is not possible under the current circumstances.[38] He opposes Taiwanese independence, saying there would be no war across the Taiwan Strait as long as Taiwan did not formally declare independence. He believes the current focus of Cross-Strait relations should be peaceful development, and that it was for the next generation in both sides to see which political system "would bring the greatest happiness to the people."[38]

Personal life

Jaw is fluent in Taiwanese Hokkien.[1] He is married to Liang Lei.[39] Jaw's younger brother Chao Shao-wei has served as president of the Taipei Artist Agency Association.[40]

References

  1. 1 2 Rubinstein, Murray A. (1994). The Other Taiwan: 1945 to the Present. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 394–395. ISBN 9781563241932.
  2. ↑ Kristof, Nicholas D. (12 January 1992). "Taiwan Becomes a Tiger With an Identity Crisis". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "起底赵少康：父十六岁投考黄埔军校十六期，子贪财虚伪_赵振镕". Sohu. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  4. ↑ Wang, Fei-yun (1 June 1995). "National Taiwan University: Radical Image, Tame Reality". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 Lin, Ching-wen (31 May 1991). "President Lee approves Premier Hau's Cabinet shuffle". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Mindich, Jeffrey H. (1 October 1993). "A Plea For Social Responsibility". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Intractable River Pollution". Free China Review. 1 October 1991. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Copper, John F. (2014). Historical Dictionary of Taiwan (Republic of China). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 162. ISBN 9781442243071.
  9. 1 2 Copper, John Franklin (1998). Taiwan's Mid-1990s Elections: Taking the Final Steps to Democracy. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 185. ISBN 9780275962074.
  10. ↑ Copper, John F. (2010). The A to Z of Taiwan (Republic of China). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 193. ISBN 9780810876446.
  11. ↑ Hsu, Crystal (24 April 2001). "New Party fighting for its life as elections approach". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  12. ↑ "New Party offers to support KMT in party portion of legislative elections". Taipei Times. 24 August 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  13. ↑ 康添財 (1994-12-06). "陳水扁今出席立法院會 趙少康請辭案也將提出". China Times (in Chinese). p. 14.
  14. ↑ Soong, James (2022). The Inside Story of Taiwan's Quiet Revolution: From Authoritarianism to Open Democracy. Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 9781557291981. Archived from the original on 2022-08-19. Retrieved 2022-08-19. Republished in part Archived 2022-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Copper, John F. (1995). "Taiwan's 1994 Gubernatorial and Mayoral Elections". Asian Affairs: An American Review. 22 (2): 97–118. doi:10.1080/00927678.1995.9933701. JSTOR 30172242.
  16. ↑ Boyle, Seamus (8 June 2023). "For Taiwan's DPP, an Unprecedented '3-peat' Depends on a Third Party". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Yu, Susan (3 August 1996). "Jaw of New Party intends to leave politics for radio". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  18. ↑ Hwang, Jim (1 March 2007). "Stay Tuned". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016. Alt URL Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ Yiu, Cody (27 February 2004). "Controversial UFO radio host resigns in disgust". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  20. ↑ Jimmy, Chuang (16 December 2002). "Chen's lawyer strives to be the best of the best". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  21. ↑ Tsai, June (6 July 2007). "NCC and public officials battle over Broadcasting Corporation of China". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  22. ↑ Chang, Rich (7 January 2006). "Mixed result for president in cash payment libel suit". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  23. ↑ Lo, Chi-hao James (17 October 2014). "Jiang won't dismiss possibility of resignation over oil scandal". The China Post. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  24. ↑ Mo, Yan-chih (29 October 2011). "2012 ELECTIONS: Ma acknowledges concerns of pan-blue vote split". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  25. ↑ Huang, Tai-lin (19 February 2004). "Despite referendum debates, PFP sticks to its guns". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  26. ↑ Mo, Yan-chih (23 June 2010). "BCC boss to serve as KMT adviser for year-end polls". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  27. ↑ Yang, Chun-hui; Chen, Yu-fu; Chin, Jonathan (22 December 2017). "BCC chairman was victim in company's sale, he says". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  28. ↑ Hsiao, Sherry (2 February 2021). "Jaw asks KMT to restore his party membership". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  29. ↑ Yu, Matt; Wang, Cheng-chung; Yeh, Joseph (1 February 2021). "Media personality Jaw Shaw-kong applies to rejoin KMT". Central News Agency. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  30. 1 2 Hsiao, Sherry (4 February 2021). "Jaw Shaw-kong rejoins KMT, eyes chair election". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  31. ↑ Shan, Shelley (15 February 2021). "Ma, Chiang, Jaw vow to unite KMT". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  32. ↑ Hsiao, Sherry (9 February 2021). "Jaw Shaw-kong to seek KMT presidential ticket". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  33. ↑ Liu, Kuang-ting; Yeh, Joseph (28 April 2021). "TV personality Jaw decides not to run for KMT chairmanship". Focus Taiwan. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  34. ↑ Hsiao, Sherry (29 April 2021). "Jaw not running for KMT top job". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  35. ↑ Hsiao, Alison (24 November 2023). "ELECTION 2024/KMT names media personality Jaw Shau-kong as Hou's running mate". Central News Agency. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  36. ↑ Chang, Yun-ping (24 August 2004). "Disaffected Shen feels the blues and makes the right polling moves". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016. Since then, Shen has been sharply criticized by pan-green supporters, who have denounced him for being a DPP apostate and for making connections with pro-blue figures such as independent Legislator Sisy Chen -- also a DPP defector -- and UFO Radio chairman Jaw Shaw-kong, a unification fundamentalist.
  37. ↑ Hille, Kathrin (2023-11-24). "Taiwan's opposition fields rival presidential candidates after unity talks fail". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  38. 1 2 Cheung, Lawrence (8 February 2021). "Talk show host Jaw Shaw-kong plans to run for president in 2024 to 'make Taiwan great again'". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  39. ↑ Shih, Hsiu-chuan; Shan, Shelley (28 June 2007). "NCC accused over approval for BCC". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  40. ↑ Wang, Chris (4 December 2012). "Music event to go ahead, TSU says". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jaw Shaw-kong.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.