Tsai Chen-chou
{{Short description|Taiwanese politician and businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| pre-nominals =
| name = Tsai Chen-chou
| honorific-suffix = MLY
| image =
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| native_name = {{nobold|蔡辰洲}}
| native_name_lang = zh
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|9|13|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|05|14|1946|09|13|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Republic of China
| citizenship =
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| occupation = Businessperson
| office = Member of the Legislative Yuan
| term_start = 1 February 1984
| term_end = 18 February 1985
| constituency = Taipei
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party = KMT
| mother =
| father =
| relatives = Tsai Chen-nan (brother)
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}}
Tsai Chen-chou ({{zh|t=蔡辰洲|link=no}}; 13 September 1946 – 14 May 1987) was a Taiwanese politician and businessman.
Life and career
He was the second son of {{ill|Tsai Wan-chun|zh|蔡萬春}} and a member of the Tsai family of Miaoli.{{cite news |last1=Huang |first1=Annie |title=Taiwan's Rags-To-Riches Billionaire Shuns Publicity |work=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/0a3ee168b7c543d04c0ea722023d5776 |access-date=26 August 2018 |date=3 November 1988 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707140416/https://apnews.com/0a3ee168b7c543d04c0ea722023d5776 |archive-date=7 July 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Kathy |title=Wealthy Family Entangled in Financial Scandal |url=https://apnews.com/1578669b66c0269d67d872bb839534d9 |access-date=26 August 2018 |work=Associated Press |date=13 May 1985 |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026004237/https://apnews.com/1578669b66c0269d67d872bb839534d9}} The family was known outside of politics for its wealth. His brothers included Tsai Chen-nan, {{ill|Tsai Chen-yang|zh|蔡辰洋}}, and {{ill|Thomas Tsai|zh|蔡辰威}}.
When the Tsai family chose to split their holdings in 1979, Tsai Chen-chou assumed control of Cathay Plastics Group.{{cite book |title=Quarterly Economic Review of Taiwan |date=1984 |publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84mwAAAAIAAJ}} Tsai Chen-chou also led the Tenth Credit Cooperative, which had previously belonged to his uncle Tsai Wan-lin.{{cite book |last1=Tsang |first1=Steve |title=Democratisation in Taiwan: Implications for China |date=1999 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781349272792 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=feywCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12}}{{cite book |last1=Liang |first1=Fook Lye |title=Political Parties, Party Systems and Democratisation in East Asia |date=2011 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9789814327954 |page=266 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTq6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266}} He was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a Kuomintang representative of Taipei in December 1983. After taking office, Tsai Chen-chou and Wang Jin-pyng, among other legislators, founded the Thirteen Brotherhood Club.{{cite news |last1=Wang |first1=Chien-chuang |title=DPP needs its own Wang Jin-pyng |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2002/02/13/0000123887 |access-date=26 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=13 February 2002}}{{cite book |last1=Baldwin |first1=Robert E. |last2=Chen |first2=Tain-Jy |last3=Nelson |first3=Douglas R. |author-link2=Chen Tain-jy |title=Political Economy of U.S.-Taiwan Trade |date=1995 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=9780472105519 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsgUjmP1ARwC&pg=PA27}} This group sought to make revisions to the Banking Law so that investment trust companies could be transformed into banks.{{cite journal |last1=Sato |first1=Yukihito |title=Democratization and financial reform in Taiwan: the political economy of bad-loan creation |journal=The Developing Economies |date=September 2002 |volume=40 |issue=3 |page=235 |doi=10.1111/j.1746-1049.2002.tb00914.x |url=https://ir.ide.go.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=28767&item_no=1&attribute_id=22&file_no=1 |doi-access=free }} A {{ill|lt=financial scandal|Tenth Credit Cooperative financial scandal|zh|十信案}} broke in 1985, after bank runs had occurred at Tenth Credit Cooperative and Cathay Investment and Trust Company.{{cite news |title=Taiwan Bank Investigation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/06/business/taiwan-bank-investigation.html |access-date=26 August 2018 |work=New York Times |agency=Reuters |date=6 May 1985}} The club disbanded after Tsai was arrested and charged with fraud.{{cite book |last1=Dittmer |first1=Lowell |last2=Fukui |first2=Haruhiro |last3=Lee |first3=Peter N. S. |title=Informal Politics in East Asia |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521645386 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ula89M66vnYC&pg=PA50}} It was discovered that Tsai had acquired loans in other people's names, transferred deposits at Tenth Cooperative to CPG, and failed to pay wages to CGP employees.{{cite book |title=Daily Report: People's Republic of China |date=1985 |publisher=National Technical Information Service |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XLEsAAAAMAAJ}} Despite his affiliation with the ruling party, the Legislative Yuan voted to waive immunity and permit Tsai's arrest.{{cite news |last1=Lin |first1=Jackie |last2=Chen |first2=Kevin |title=Tsai led family to dominate nation's finance business |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2004/09/29/2003204864/2 |access-date=26 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=29 September 2004}} In March 1985, the magazine Thunder reported that Tsai had bribed Kuomintang officials to obtain a legislative nomination from the party.{{cite journal |title=Thunder magazine publisher sentenced in libel suit |journal=Taiwan Communiqué |date=August 1985 |volume=21 |page=20 |url=http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/tc21-int.pdf |issn=1027-3999}} Tsai was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges of fraud in April 1985. Due to the extent of his actions, the longest possible sentence was 1,582 years. Tangwai publications extensively covered the legal action against Tsai, alongside the murder of Henry Liu, inciting the Kuomintang to confiscate Tangwai publications.{{cite journal |title=Freedom of the press? |journal=Taiwan Communiqué |date=June 1985 |volume=20 |page=14 |url=http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/tc20-int.pdf |issn=1027-3999}} Tsai Wan-lin gave Tsai Chen-chou a one-time $7.5 million loan over the course of the scandal, but would not help him further. Tsai Chen-chou died in prison in 1987, of liver disease. Following the arrest of David Chou in 2003, the Taipei Times noted that Tsai and Huang Hsin-chieh were the only legislators to have been jailed during the authoritarian Kuomintang era.{{cite news |title=Editorial: Chou case no disgrace for the DPP |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2003/02/18/0000195029 |access-date=26 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=18 February 2003}}
References
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Category:Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan
Category:Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
Category:Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
Category:20th-century Taiwanese businesspeople
Category:Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Miaoli County
Category:Taiwanese business executives
Category:Taiwanese politicians convicted of fraud
Category:Taiwanese people who died in prison custody