Wang Hung-wei

Wang Hung-wei (; born July 10, 1964) is a Taiwanese politician affiliated with the Kuomintang, who has served in the Legislative Yuan representing Taipei City Constituency III since 2023. She is the deputy secretary-general of the Kuomintang legislative caucus.

Formerly a journalist, Wang was a New Party member from 2006 to early 2013, when she joined the Kuomintang. She was re-elected as a member of the Taipei City Council for five terms. Since 2017, she has also served as the deputy chairman of the Kuomintang Cultural Communication Committee. She succeeded Chiang Wan-an in a 2023 by-election, and was reelected to a full term in January 2024.

Early life and education

Wang Hung-wei was born in Keelung. The family originated from Tanggu, Tianjin (today's Binhai New District of Tianjin City). Her father was a sailor and arrived in Taiwan with Kuomintang forces during the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan; her mother and grandmother transited through Hong Kong before reuniting in Taiwan. Wang Hung-wei studied at Taipei Civil Rights Elementary School, Renai Junior High School, and Taipei First Girls' High School. She then obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism from National Chengchi University in 1987.

After graduation, Wang Hung-wei worked as a journalist, mainly writing financial and economic news. She has been employed as a finance and economics writer by the '' Taiwan Times'', the ''Commercial Times'', and the ''United Daily News''. While working at Lianhe Daily, she also served as deputy director of the Interview Center and director of the Greater Taipei Center.

Political career

Taipei City Councilor

Wang Hung-wei joined the New Party in 2006, and was first elected a Taipei City Councilor in the 2005–06 Taiwanese local elections, succeeding Alex Fai. Wang won reelection in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022.

In 2013, Wang Hung-wei quit the New Party and joined the Kuomintang. In 2014, he ran for city council on behalf of the Kuomintang. Yang Shih-kuang, a media person nominated by the New Party, ultimately lost the election. In the 2018 city council re-election, he was re-elected with the highest number of votes.

In 2017, Wang Hung-wei served as deputy chairman of the Kuomintang Cultural Communication Committee and joined the spokesperson group.

During the 2022 Taiwanese local elections, Wang Hung-wei exposed the suspected plagiarism of former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien's master's thesis.

Legislative Yuan

During her tenure as a member of the Taipei City Council, Wang Hung-wei tried to run for office as a legislator several times. She originally intended to run for a seat in Taipei City Constituency III on behalf of the New Party in the 2012 Taiwanese legislative election but was not nominated. This constituency was won by the Kuomintang affiliated non-district legislator Luo Shu-lei, who was elected with the highest number of votes in Taipei City. Wang Hung-wei moved to the New Party, ranked second on the party list, but was not seated because the party vote did not reach 5%. After joining the Kuomintang, she participated in the pre-selection of the Kuomintang legislators in the same constituency in 2015. Still, she was defeated in a three-way race by Chiang Wan-an and Luo Shu-lei). Chiang Wan-an eventually won the seat. In 2019, Wang participated in the primary election the Legislative Yuan's Taipei City Constituency VII but lost to Fai Hrong-tai, an incumbent legislator.

On December 2, 2022, Wang Hung-wei was recruited by the Kuomintang to participate in the by-election for the legislative vacancy in Taipei City's Third Electoral District to fill the vacancy left by Chiang Wan-an's resignation due to his candidacy for Taipei City Mayor. Although he had just been re-elected as a city councilor in the 2022 local election and had stated during the election that he would not participate in the by-election, Wang relented after discussing the matter with senior leaders in the party 1 This is the first time Wang was nominated as a Kuomintang legislative candidate and her first legislative campaign since 2012. According to the "Local System Law," the vacancy left by Wang Hung-wei did not need to be filled via by-election. Before the polls were closed, Wang was once significantly ahead of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Enoch Wu. However, before the election, she reiterated, "The election situation is urgent," to urge votes. Wang won the closest victory in the history of this constituency in January 2023. She was sworn in on January 16; and was re-elected to a full term on January 13, 2024, with 105,050 votes and a vote share of 52.52%.

Controversy

In July 2010, Wang Hung-wei mosaics an illustration from the non-restricted novel "'' Haruka Nogizaka's Secret''" on her blog. This move caused animation fans to leave comments on the blog and the New Party's discussion forum to criticize. Most comments were immediately deleted, and reading permission restrictions were added to the discussion forum on August 9 8 On August 18, the New Party discussion forum administrator deleted all questions and comments about this incident. In September 2010, the Animation Upward Promotion Association criticized the behavior of Congressman Wang Hung-wei and the administrators of his political party forum at a press conference. It proposed an amendment to the classification system.

On May 27, 2022, Wang Hung-wei posted a picture of flooding in Shalu District, Taichung City, on Facebook to criticize DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi for ignoring the disaster in her constituency. At that time, Lin was organizing a delegation with bipartisan delegation to attend the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The picture was found to be a photo of flooding in 2013, and she later corrected the photo, saying it was mistakenly planted.

On October 18, 2022, Wang Hung-wei held a press conference and said that Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-mai used the quota of publicly funded medical students at National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology when he was studying. After completing his studies, he failed to fulfill his obligation to serve in rural areas, occupying the quota and resources of publicly funded medical students. Wang Hung-wei also asked Chen whether he had paid the tuition fee. Chen responded that public funds had been returned in compliance with regulations. The Medical Affairs Department of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of China stated that the time and space background allowed the practice of "paying back the money and settling the matter." If publicly funded students had other employment options after graduation, they could choose to repay their tuition fees to avoid serving in the countryside. After the system had been revised, the 2016 new system could not exempt service obligations by repaying the money, so there was no longer the practice of "losing money and settling the matter." Not only do public-funded students have to return their tuition fees, but if they fail to serve in the countryside according to the regulations, their medical certificates will be withheld. I am unable to practice outside the home.

Personal life

Wang Hung-wei met Tao Yun-cheng in college. After graduation, they both began careers in journalism, married around 1990, and have three daughters. After Wang Hung-wei entered politics, her husband stopped working in news media to support her political career entirely.

Election Records

References

External links

王鴻薇看天下- 官方部落格

臺北市議員-王鴻薇

臺北市議會全球資訊網-王鴻薇議員簡介

{{Portal bar, Republic of China, Politics

Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan
National Chengchi University alumni
Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Keelung
Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
1964 births
Living people
Taipei City Councilors
21st-century Taiwanese women politicians