Hope Su Tseng-chang (; born 28 July 1947) is a
Taiwanese politician serving as
premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2019, and previously from 2006 to 2007. He was the chairman of the
Democratic Progressive Party in 2005 and from 2012 to 2014. Su served as Chief of Staff to
President Chen Shui-bian in 2004.
[About Executive Yuan: Premier](_blank)
, ''Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.
Unde ...
, Republic of China (Taiwan)'', Updated 2006-02-24 He is currently the longest-serving Democratic Progressive premier in history.
Su actively campaigned for the DPP presidential nomination in 2008, but finished second to
Frank Hsieh. Su eventually teamed with Hsieh as the vice presidential nominee; the DPP lost to the
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 ...
ticket of
Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from 1 ...
and
Vincent Siew. Su ran for Taipei City Mayor in November 2010, but lost to the incumbent
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. ...
by a 12-point margin. Su campaigned for the 2012 presidential candidacy of the DPP in 2011, but lost to
Tsai Ing-wen by a very narrow margin. Following the loss of Tsai to Ma Ying-jeou, Su was elected to succeed Tsai as DPP chairman in 2012.
During the Chen administration, Su, along with politicians
Annette Lu
Annette Lu Hsiu-lien (; born 7 June 1944) is a Taiwanese politician. A feminist active in the tangwai movement, she joined the Democratic Progressive Party in 1990, and was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1992. Subsequently, she served as ...
, Frank Hsieh and
Yu Shyi-kun, are collectively known as the "Big Four of the Democratic Progressive Party". Su is nicknamed the "Lightbulb" () by the Taiwanese media and DPP voters, a nickname he earned in the 1980s for his charismatic approach to campaigning during election season, in addition to being an affectionate reference to the balding Su.
Personal background
Su was born at Ministry of Health and Welfare Pingtung Hospital in
Pingtung,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
on 28 July 1947. He studied at the
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan.
The university was founded in 1928 during Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imper ...
. He was a practicing
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...
from 1973 to 1983 and became a defense lawyer in the
Kaohsiung Incident trials
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...
. In September 1986, Su and seventeen others founded the
Democratic Progressive Party.
He was previously the magistrate of
Pingtung County
Pingtung County is a county located in southern Taiwan. It has a warm tropical monsoon climate and is known for its agriculture and tourism. Kenting National Park, Taiwan's oldest national park, is located in the county. The county seat is Pin ...
(1989–1993) and magistrate of
Taipei County (1997–2004).
His first election as the Taipei magistrate was aided by a split between the
New Party and the
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 ...
. His subsequent reelection occurred by a wide margin despite the ability of the
Pan-Blue Coalition
The pan-Blue coalition, pan-Blue force or pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and Yo ...
to present a united candidate,
Wang Chien-shien. He was Secretary-General (Chief of Staff) to the Office of the
President of the Republic of China
The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had au ...
under President
Chen Shui-bian (2004–2005). After President Chen resigned as DPP chairman following the
2004 legislative elections, he was elected the 10th-term DPP chairman.
Following DPP losses in the 2005 municipal elections on December 3, Su announced that he would, pursuant to a pre-election promise, resign from the chairmanship.
Su is married to Chan Hsiu-ling (詹秀齡) with whom he has three daughters, one of which is
Su Chiao-hui
Su Chiao-hui (; 5 April 1976) is a Taiwanese politician and lawyer.
Early life
Su Chiao-hui was born in Taipei. She obtained her bachelor's degree in law from National Taiwan University. She then obtained her Master of Laws from the Boston Univer ...
.
First premiership: 2006–2007
Su was announced as the new premier on January 19, 2006, and took his oath of office, along with his cabinet, on January 25, 2006. Soon after, Su promised to step down if the people's welfare (referring to crime and other civil problems) did not improve within six months. Su faced calls for his resignation after the
Rebar Chinese Bank run, but refused to leave his post at the time.
Su was a contender for the DPP nomination in the
2008 presidential election. He formally announced his candidacy on Feb. 25. In the DPP primary vote on May 6, 2007, Su received 46,994 votes, coming in second to former Premier
Frank Hsieh. Conceding defeat in the primary, Su announced that he had withdrawn from the race.
On May 12, 2007, Su submitted his letter of resignation to President Chen Shui-bian, ending his tenure on May 21. With the resignation of Su and with ten months left in Chen's presidency, that would mean Chen's eight years as president will have seen at least six Premiers (with Chang Chun-Hsiung serving two separate tenures). Su also stated that he previously submitted resignations numerous times over his sixteen-month tenure, but all were rejected by President Chen.
First cabinet
2008 presidential campaign
Su ran for vice president alongside
Frank Hsieh, who was the DPP Nomination. Together, Su and Hsieh ran against
Ma and
Siew. On March 22, they lost in a landslide to Ma and Siew's 7,659,014 (58.45%) votes with their 5,444,949 (41.55%) votes.
2010 Taipei mayoral race
Although Su had been considered a strong candidate to helm the newly created
New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, be ...
, because he had previously served the area as Taipei County Magistrate, he instead ran for the mayoralty of Taipei City. Su vowed that should he win, he would serve out the entire term (through 2014) effectively ending any talks of a presidential run in 2012. Su eventually lost the race to the incumbent mayor
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. ...
.
2012 campaigns
Su declared his candidacy for the 2012 presidential candidacy, but lost a DPP party primary held in April 2011 to
Tsai Ing-wen and
Hsu Hsin-liang, by a margin of 1.35 percent. He was subsequently elected DPP chairman in May 2012,
and was succeeded by Tsai in 2014, after dropping out of the chairmanship election in the wake of the
Sunflower Student Movement.
2018 New Taipei mayoral race

Total voters: 3,264,128; Valid votes: 2,038,822; Voter turnout: 62.46%.
Second premiership: 2019–present
Su was appointed to the premiership on January 14, 2019, by President
Tsai Ing-wen. He succeeded
William Lai, who had resigned in response to the
Democratic Progressive Party's poor performance in the
2018 Taiwanese local elections. Aged 71, when he returned to the premiership, Su became one of the oldest to hold the office. Soon after Su assumed office, approval ratings for Tsai's presidential administration rose. Su and his second cabinet resigned en masse following the
2020 Taiwanese legislative election
The 2020 Taiwanese legislative election was held on 11 January 2020 for all 113 seats to the Legislative Yuan concurrently with the 15th presidential election in Taiwan. The term of the Legislative Yuan began on 1 February 2020.
The Democratic ...
, as stipulated in the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
, but Tsai, who won reelection to the presidency, asked him to remain in his post.
Su visited the crash site of the
Hualien train derailment.
Second cabinet
See also
*
Politics of the Republic of China
References
External links
*
Premier biography timelineat the Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Tseng-chang
1947 births
Living people
Magistrates of Pingtung County
Democratic Progressive Party chairpersons
National Taiwan University alumni
Premiers of the Republic of China on Taiwan
Taiwan independence activists
Magistrates of Taipei County
Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star
Taiwanese political party founders
Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent
21st-century Taiwanese politicians
20th-century Taiwanese politicians