Wei Yao-chien

Wei Yao-chien (Chinese: 魏耀乾; pinyin: Wèi Yàoqián; Wade–Giles: Wei4 Yao4-chʻien2; born 5 February 1950) is a Taiwanese politician.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wei (魏).
Wei Yao-chien
MLY
魏耀乾
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 1990 – 31 January 1996
ConstituencyTainan
Personal details
Born (1950-02-05) 5 February 1950
Jiali, Tainan County, Taiwan
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Home Party
Democratic Progressive Party
Alma materUniversity of Essex
National Taiwan University
Occupationpolitician
Professiondentist

Early life and career

Wei was born on 5 February 1950 in Tainan to a conservative family with strong ties to the Kuomintang.[1][2] He attended the University of Essex and completed further study at Harvard University as well as Yale University before he was trained as a dentist.[1][2] He later earned a master's degree in political science at National Taiwan University.[1]

Political career

Wei turned against the Kuomintang after Fang Su-min and Lin Yi-hsiung's twin daughters were stabbed to death in 1979.[2] His friendship with Frank Hsieh also contributed to Wei's political beliefs.[2] Wei represented Tainan for two terms on the Legislative Yuan, from 1990 to 1996, as a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.[2][3] During his legislative tenure, Wei became known for fighting fellow lawmakers.[2] Wei alluded to his dental practice in describing physical confrontation attempts to "pull the tiger's teeth."[2] Wei left the Democratic Progressive Party to run an independent campaign for the Tainan County magistracy in 2001. Though a July 2001 opinion poll showed that Wei had not garnered much support,[4] a potential split in the Pan-Green Coalition's voter base between Wei and Su Huan-chih was still considered damaging to Su.[2][5] Wei's campaign was run by former Tainan deputy magistrate Lin Wen-ding.[6] Wei was placed on the Home Party list during the 2008 legislative elections, but not elected to the Legislative Yuan.[7] He contested the Lienchiang County magistracy as an independent in 2018.[8][1]

2018 Lienchang County mayoral results[9]
No. Candidate Party Votes Percentage
1Su Po-hao (蘇柏豪) Tree Party927 12.51%
2Chu Hsiu-chen (朱秀珍) Independent1,284 17.33%
3Wei Yao-chien Independent336 4.54%
4Liu Cheng-ying Kuomintang4,861 65.62%
Total voters10,773　
Valid votes　7,408
Invalid votes　
Voter turnout　68.76%

Activism

In 2006, Wei served as executive director of the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go campaign led by Shih Ming-teh.[10] In this position, Wei acted as a spokesman and represented the campaign to the Legislative Yuan.[11][12] In February 2014, Wei founded the Jiawu Regime Change organization alongside fellow former legislators Chen Wan-chen and Payen Talu, among others, to advocate Taiwan independence.[13] Wei was in attendance at Tsai Ing-wen's presidential inauguration on 20 May 2016, alongside a group of protestors advocating for the replacement of the Constitution of the Republic of China with a Taiwan-centric supreme law.[14] In 2018, Wei and another former legislator, Liang Mu-yang, led a demonstration on the 71st anniversary of the 228 incident, again in support of a rewritten constitution for Taiwan.[15]

References
  1. "福建省連江縣第七屆縣長、縣議員選舉 選舉公報" (PDF) (in Chinese). Central Election Commission. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  2. Huang, Joyce (20 November 2001). "Dec. 1 elections: Ex-DPP heavyweight goes it alone". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  3. "Wei Yao-chien (2)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  4. "Tainan County opinion poll causes political spat". Taipei Times. 8 August 2001. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  5. Chiu, Yu-tzu. "Dec. 1 elections: Candidates search far and wide for votes in Kinmen". Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. Huang, Joyce (20 November 2001). "Dec. 1 elections: Infighting threatens DPP candidate's chances for victory". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  7. "〈快訊〉不分區立委開票結果 一覽表" (in Chinese). TVBS. 12 January 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  8. "馬祖大未來／魏耀乾：解除軍事武裝 馬祖直屬總統府 成兩岸「和平特區」". Yahoo! News Taiwan. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  9. https://www.cec.gov.tw/pc/en/TC/nm09007000000000000.html
  10. Ko, Shu-ling (1 September 2006). "Pan-blues want their Shih sit-in donations back". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  11. Mo, Yan-chih; Ko, Shu-ling (28 September 2006). "Anti-Chen camp returns to Taipei Railway Station". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  12. Wang, Flora (31 October 2006). "Shih campaign proposes corruption statute amendment". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  13. Wang, Chris (27 May 2014). "New group to highlight nation's missing history". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  14. Gerber, Abraham (21 May 2016). "Tsai Inauguration: Demonstrators gather to be heard by new president". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  15. Pan, Jason (24 February 2018). "Local groups hold 228 memorial in Tsai's hometown". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
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