Eugene You-hsin Chien (; born 4 February 1946) is a Taiwanese

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

from 2002 to 2004.

Early life and education

Chien was born in Taiwan in 1946. He graduated with his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(B.S.) in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

and earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in aeronautics and astronautics from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in the United States.

Career

After receiving his Ph.D. at the age of 27, Chien taught in

Tamkang University Tamkang University (TKU; ) is a private university in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It was founded in 1950 as a junior college of English. Today it is a comprehensive university with 11 colleges that serves nearly 25,000 students ...

in Taiwan. In the following eleven years, he became a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and was subsequently promoted to be the Dean of College of Engineering in Tamkang University in 1978. Chien was presented with the “Outstanding Young Engineer of the Republic of China Award”, the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Republic of China Award” in the 1970s and in 1985 he was recognized as the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World ” by both Osaka Jaycees, Japan and Jaycees International. In 1982, he hosted a national broadcasting TV program ''High Technology'', in which he introduced various advanced technologies across the world to increase the public's interests in this subject. The program was well received amongst the public reaching over 30% of all viewers and subsequently obtained the

Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture (Taiwan), M ...

in Taiwan.

Political and diplomatic career

In 1983, Chien was elected as a legislator (Member of Parliament) in

Taipei City , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Countr ...

with the highest number of votes. He was re-elected again in 1986. Throughout his political career, Chien served three different presidents from two different major political parties in Taiwan. Chien was appointed as the first Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) under

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (, 27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China. The eldest and only biological son of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China and ended ...

's presidency. In 1991, during

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; pinyin: ''Lǐ Dēnghuī''; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China, president of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) unde ...

's presidency, he was appointed as the Minister of Transportation and Communications and Representative of Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom (Ambassador), and Senior Advisor of National Security Council. In 1998 he was conferred an Honorary Fellowship by

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

Wales, UK. In 2000, during President

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...

's presidency, Chien was appointed as the Deputy Secretary General of the Office of the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Broadcasting career

In 2007, Chien founded Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE). He has led a variety of activities both at home and abroad in order to raise public awareness on climate change and sustainable energy. As part of his efforts, he has started to host a weekend national radio show on

Broadcasting Corporation of China The Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) is a broadcasting company in the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). It was founded as the Central Broadcasting System in Nanjing in 1928. History The Central Broadcasting System is considere ...

(BCC), called ''When the Earth Comes Down with a Fever'', in which he frequently discusses issues relating to climate change. In 2010, Chien was presented the "Global Views Environmental Heroes Awards" by

Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

and ''Global Views Monthly''. On 7 October 2024, Chien was appointed an ambassador-at-large by President

Lai Ching-te Lai Ching-te (; pinyin: ''Lài Qīngdé''; born 6 October 1959), also known as William Lai, is a Taiwanese politician and former physician who is currently serving as the eighth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since May 2024. He is ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chien, Eugene 1946 births Living people Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan National Taiwan University alumni Ministers of environment of Taiwan Ministers of foreign affairs of Taiwan Ministers of transportation and communications of Taiwan Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Taoyuan City Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Academic staff of Tamkang University Ambassadors-at-large of the Republic of China