Su Huan-chih
{{Short description|Taiwanese politician (born 1956)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Su|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Su Huan-chih
| honorific-suffix = MLY
| image = Su-Huan-chih-cropped.png
| caption = Su in 2007
| signature = 蘇煥智的簽名.jpg
| office1 = 1st Convener of the Taiwan Renewal Party
| term_start1 = 24 August 2019
| term_end1 =
| 1blankname1 = Secretary General
| 1namedata1 = Sam Lim
| predecessor1 = Position established
| successor1 =
| office2 = 10th Magistrate of Tainan County
| term_start2 = 20 December 2001
| term_end2 = 25 December 2010
| predecessor2 = Mark Chen
| successor2 = William Lai (as Mayor of Tainan)
| office3 = Member of the Legislative Yuan
| term_start3 = 1 February 1993
| term_end3 = 20 December 2001
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| constituency3 = Tainan County
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1956|7|20}}
| birth_place = Cigu Township, Tainan County, Taiwan
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = Taiwan Renewal Party (since 2019)
| otherparty = Independent (2018–2019)
Democratic Progressive Party (1991–2018)
| spouse =
| profession = Lawyer
| module = {{Infobox Chinese
| child = yes
| t = 蘇煥智
| s = 苏焕智
| p = Sū Huànzhì
| w = {{Tone superscript|Su1 Huan4-chih4}} }}
| education = National Taiwan University (LLB)
Fu Jen Catholic University
}}
Su Huan-chih ({{zh|t=蘇煥智}}; born July 20, 1956) is a Taiwanese politician who was the magistrate of Tainan County from 2001 to 2010, until Tainan County's merger into Tainan City. Born in a rural township in southern Taiwan, Su graduated from National Taiwan University. He passed the bar examination in 1986 and started his career as a lawyer.{{cite web |url=http://www.tainan.gov.tw/CP/10009/index.aspx |title=縣長 蘇煥智簡介 |accessdate=2008-04-08 |work=Tainan County government}}
Su made his entry into politics in the 1990s. He was elected legislator three times in a row serving from 1992 to 2001. As an experienced legislator, Su launched a magisterial campaign in 2001 and was elected with over 51% of the votes, becoming the second member of the Democratic Progressive Party to ever hold the position.{{cite web |url=http://tnec.cec.gov.tw/files/20061025140526_tn5-1.htm |title=臺南縣歷屆縣長選舉當選人名單 |access-date=2008-04-13 |work=Central Election Commission |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025220916/http://tnec.cec.gov.tw/files/20061025140526_tn5-1.htm |archive-date=October 25, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}
Early life and career
Su Huan-chih was born on 20 July 1956 in Cigu, Tainan County. He grew up in the agriculture-based township during his childhood years.
Su began studying at the prestigious National Taiwan University majoring in physics. He decided to drop out and switched his major to law in 1977. After passing the bar examination, Su started his career as a practicing lawyer. With his academic experience in physics, he was hired by IBM Taiwan to serve as its patent attorney.
Su gave up his job at IBM and went back to his hometown to run for legislator. He was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1992. He promoted the senior welfare and environmental protection. Having been elected three times in a row, Su worked to decrease the difference in resource distribution between northern and southern Taiwan.
Tainan magistracy
Su was elected the magistrate of Tainan County and took office on December 20, 2001.{{cite web |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2001/12/21/116704 |title=Local government chiefs take up positions |author=Tsai Ting-I |accessdate=2008-04-09 |work=The Taipei Times|date=December 21, 2001 }} He focused on preserving the environment of the region. For example, he worked with international ecologists and planned to build a research center near the habitat of black-faced spoonbills with a goal to preserve these endangered birds.{{cite web |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/10/12/175375 |title=Southern Taiwan embraces nature |last1=Chiu|first1=Yu-tzu |accessdate=2008-04-09 |work=Taipei Times|date=October 12, 2002 }}
The Su administration also improved the technological economy of the region. The net worth of the Tainan Science Park grew from NT$50.1 billion in 2001 to NT$451.6 billion in 2006. Apart from the growth in profit, many new industrial parks were established. As a result, Tainan County transformed from an agrarian county to a technological county.
Despite the technological innovations, Su also promoted agriculture of southern Taiwan. The Taiwan Orchid Plantation ({{zh|t=台灣蘭花科技園區}}) was founded during his term. The plantation has held three international exhibitions since its establishment. The exhibitions attracted more than 600 thousand visitors gaining NT$400 million from export orders.
Later political career
In March 2018, Su began his independent campaign for the Taipei mayoralty.{{cite news|first1=I-chia|last1=Lee|title=Ex-Tainan county commissioner to run for Taipei job|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/03/04/2003688659|accessdate=4 March 2018|work=Taipei Times|date=4 March 2018}}{{cite news|last1=Chen|first1=Wei-han|title=Su blasts 'failures' of DPP government|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/03/07/2003688832|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=Taipei Times|date=7 March 2018}} He ended his Taipei mayoral bid in July, choosing to contest the same office in Tainan.{{cite news |last1=Wan |first1=Yu-chen |last2=Hetherington |first2=William |title=Ex-county head to run for Tainan mayor as independent |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/07/03/2003695993 |accessdate=3 July 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=3 July 2018}}
| class="wikitable collapsible" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center" | |||
| colspan="6"|2018 Tainan City mayoral results{{Cite web | url=https://www.cec.gov.tw/pc/en/TC/nm67000000000000000.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124220228/https://www.cec.gov.tw/pc/en/TC/nm67000000000000000.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 24, 2018 | title=Unknown}} | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| width=35| No.
!width=150| Candidate !width=120| Party !width=75| Votes !width=75| Percentage !width=49| | |||
| 1 | Huang Wei-cher | Democratic Progressive Party | style="border-left:4px solid #1B9413;" align="right"|367,518
|align="right"|38.02% |align="center"| 20px |
| 2 | Kao Su-po | 20px Kuomintang | style="border-left:4px solid #000099;" align="right"|312,874
|align="right"|32.37% |align="center"| |
| 3 | Lin Yi-feng (林義豐) | 20px Independent | style="border-left:4px solid #000000;" align="right"|84,153
|align="right"|8.71% |align="center"| |
| 4 | Hsu Chun-hsin (許忠信) | 20px Independent | style="border-left:4px solid #000000;" align="right"|45,168
|align="right"|4.67% |align="center"| |
| 5 | Chen Yong-he (陳永和) | 20px Independent | style="border-left:4px solid #000000;" align="right"|117,179
|align="right"|12.12% |align="center"| |
| 6 | Su Huan-chih | 20px Independent | style="border-left:4px solid #000000;" align="right"|39,778
|align="right"|4.11% |align="center"| |
| bgcolor=EEEEEE
| colspan="3" align="right" | Total voters | colspan="3" align="left" | 1,546,862 | ||
| bgcolor=EEEEEE
| colspan="3" align="right" | Valid votes | colspan="3" align="left" | 966,670 | ||
| bgcolor=EEEEEE
| colspan="3" align="right" | Invalid votes | colspan="3" align="left" | | ||
| bgcolor=EEEEEE
| colspan="3" align="right" | Voter turnout | colspan="3" align="left" | 62.49% |
On 24 August 2019, Su founded the {{ill|Taiwan Renewal Party|zh|台灣維新}} and was elected its convenor.{{cite news |last1=Lim |first1=Emerson |title=Another political party formed in Taiwan ahead of 2020 elections |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/201908240016 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |agency=Central News Agency|date=24 August 2019}} During the 2022 local election cycle, Su contested the Taipei mayoralty.{{cite news |last1=Chen |first1=Yu-ting |last2=Mazzetta |first2=Matthew |title=ELECTIONS 2022/Taipei mayor candidates to make policy presentations on Nov. 12, 15 |url=https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202210240014 |access-date=25 October 2022 |agency=Central News Agency |date=24 October 2022 |quote=Also competing in this year's Taipei mayor's race are Taiwan Renewal Party nominee Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), the Taiwan Animal Protection Party's Chang Chia-hao (張家豪), Republican Party nominee Tang Hsin-min (唐新民), and Huang Sheng-feng (黃聖峰) of the Sovereign State for Formosa & Pescadores Party.}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080418234849/http://top.tainan.gov.tw/index.php Taiwan Orchid Plantation]
{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{S-bef|before = Mark Chen}}
{{S-ttl|title = Magistrate of Tainan County|years = 2001–2010}}
{{S-aft|after=County merged into Tainan City; William Lai as the mayor of Tainan}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Huan-chih}}
Category:Magistrates of Tainan County
Category:Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan
Category:Tainan Members of the Legislative Yuan
Category:National Taiwan University alumni
Category:Fu Jen Catholic University alumni
Category:Members of the 2nd Legislative Yuan
Category:Members of the 3rd Legislative Yuan
Category:Members of the 4th Legislative Yuan
Category:21st-century Taiwanese judges