Johnny Chiang Chi-chen (; born 2 March 1972) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the penultimate Director-General of the

Government Information Office The Government Information Office, Executive Yuan (GIO; ) was a cabinet-level agency of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan (the Republic of China) in charge of promoting government policies and regulating domestic media. History In April 1947, the ...

from 2010 to 2011, a post he resigned to become a member of the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel ...

in which he has served since 2012. In March 2020, he was elected the

Chairman of the Kuomintang The Chairman of the Kuomintang is the leader of the Kuomintang in the Republic of China. The position used to be titled as President (1912–1914), Premier (1919–1925), Chairman of the Central Executive Committee (1925–1938), Director-General ...

and assumed office on 9 March until he was succeeded by

Eric Chu Eric Chu Li-luan (; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician. He was born into a political family with strong Kuomintang (KMT) ties, and served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China, under Premier Wu Den-yih. Prior to this, Chu served ...

on 5 October 2021.

Early education

Chiang was born on 2 March 1972. He attended elementary and junior high school in his hometown of

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

before studying diplomacy at

National Chengchi University National Chengchi University () is a public research university in Taipei. The university is also considered as the earliest public service training facility of the Republic of China. First established in Nanjing in 1927, the university was subs ...

. He served in the ROC Army Special Force 101 Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion during his compulsory military service. He was honorably discharged from ROC Army with the rank of corporal. He earned a master's degree from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, followed by a doctorate at the University of South Carolina, both in the United States of America.

Early career

Then, he taught at Soochow University, and worked in multiple positions at the

Taiwan Institute of Economic Research Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, ) is an incorporated non-profit research institute in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. History Established on 1 September 1976, it was the first independent academic research institute in Taiwan. ...

Political career

He was named the head of the

in 2010. When Chiang was selected as a

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

candidate for the legislature in April 2011, he resigned the GIO position and was replaced by

Philip Yang Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

. Chiang was one of five former GIO officials to appear on the ballot. He won election in 2012, and again in 2016. Chiang was chosen as one of five conveners of the Legislative Yuan's constitutional amendment committee in 2015. He shared foreign and national defense committee convener duties with Liu Shih-fang in 2016. Chiang announced his intention to contest the Taichung mayoralty in October 2017, becoming the second Kuomintang politician after

Lu Shiow-yen Lu Shiow-yen (; born 31 August 1961) is a Taiwanese politician and former television presenter. She is the incumbent Mayor of Taichung since 25 December 2018. Education and early career Lu earned a bachelor's degree from National Chengchi Unive ...

to declare interest in the position. It was reported in February 2018 that Chiang had narrowly finished second to Lu in three different public opinion polls that served as the Kuomintang's Taichung mayoral primary. Chiang declared his candidacy for the 2020 Kuomintang chairmanship election on 25 January 2020, ten days after

Wu Den-yih Wu may refer to: States and regions on modern China's territory * Wu (state) (; och, *, italic=yes, links=no), a kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period 771–476 BCE ** Suzhou or Wu (), its eponymous capital ** Wu County (), a former count ...

resigned the position. Chiang defeated

Hau Lung-pin Hau Lung-pin (; born 22 August 1952) is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party (Taiwan), New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. ...

in the leadership election, held on 7 March 2020. Chiang took office as Kuomintang chairman on 9 March 2020. In March 2021, KMT chairman Johnny Chiang rejected the "one country, two systems" as a feasible model for Taiwan, citing Beijing's response to protests in Hong Kong as well as the value that Taiwanese place in political freedoms. In September of that year, Chiang lost his bid to retain the chairmanship, finishing third behind

and

Chang Ya-chung Chang Ya-chung (; born December 1954) is a Taiwanese political scientist. He founded the in 2004 and was elected to the National Assembly (Republic of China), National Assembly in 2005, but resigned on the first day to protest the parliament's ...

Personal

Chiang is of Hakka descent from

Teochew people The Teochew people or Chaoshan people (rendered Têo-Swa in romanized Teoswa and Chaoshan in Standard Chinese also known as Teo-Swa in mainland China due to a change in place names) is anyone native to the historical Chaoshan region in south ...

. He is married to the daughter of former legislator

Liu Shen-liang Liu Shen-liang (; born 18 March 1939) is a Taiwanese politician. A member of the Kuomintang, Liu served on the Legislative Yuan from 1990 to 1993, between 1996 and 2002, and again from 2005 to 2012. Education Liu earned a bachelor's degree from ...

, with whom he has two children. One of his uncles is , a former

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

secretary-general.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiang, Johnny 1972 births Living people Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Members of the 8th Legislative Yuan Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan Taichung Members of the Legislative Yuan National Chengchi University alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni University of South Carolina alumni Soochow University (Taiwan) faculty Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan Taiwanese expatriates in the United States Government ministers of Taiwan Chairpersons of the Kuomintang Taiwanese politicians of Hakka descent