Quick Facts
Biography
Chen Chu or Kiku Chen (traditional Chinese: 陳菊; simplified Chinese: 陈菊; pinyin: Chén Jú; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Chü; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Kiok; born 10 June 1950 in Yilan County, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese politician who served as Mayor of Kaohsiung between 2006 and 2018. She was one of the "Kaohsiung Eight," prominent dissidents arrested after the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979. She spent six years in jail during the martial law period in Taiwan.
Chen, who holds a master's degree from National Sun Yat-sen University, held senior appointed posts in Taipei City and Kaohsiung City governments between 1995 and 2000. She then served as minister of the Council of Labor Affairs between 2000 and 2005.In 2006, Chen Chu won the Kaohsiung mayoral elections and became the city's first elected female mayor. She was re-elected in 2010 with 52% of the vote in a three-way race.
On 30 August 2009, the 14th Dalai Lama accepted an invitation from Chen Chu to visit Taiwan.
Chen served as Acting Chair of the Democratic Progressive Party in 2012.
Kaohsiung mayoralty
2006 Kaohsiung mayoral election
On 9 December 2006, Chen narrowly won the 2006 Kaohsiung mayoral elections over Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英) by just 1,120 votes. Huang filed two lawsuits against Chen's camp, asking the court to annul Chen's victory. He argued that the airing of a video on the eve of the election resulted in his loss. The Kaohsiung District Court ruled in favor of Huang Jun-ying in one of the cases, thereby nullifying the elections.
Soon after hearing the news, Chen expressed that she would appeal the case. She said that if she accepted the ruling, it would be political suicide. While her DPP colleague and legislator Kuan Bi-ling advised Chen to give up the appeal and allow a by-election, Chen nonetheless appealed the case. Some wondered if Kuan, who lost to Chen in the primaries, made the remark out of personal interest.
The High Court overturned the earlier decision and validated Chen's election victory on 17 November 2007. In December 2007, after her mayoralty was proven indisputable, she announced that her new goal is to focus on improving the city's transportation, public construction, and environmental protection.
| No | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) |  | 378,303 | 49.27% |
| 2 | Lin Chi-sheng (林志昇) | 1,746 | 0.23% | |
| 3 | Lo Chih-ming | 6,599 | 0.86% | |
| 4 | Lin Ching-yuan (林景元) | 1,803 | 0.23% | |
| 5 | Chen Chu |  | 379,417 | 49.41% |
Chienchen River cleanup
In April 2009, mayor Chen promised to improve the water quality of Chienchen River, a river that the locals called "Heilungchiang" (Chinese: 黑龍江; lit. "Black Dragon River"). She said that NT$120 million (approximately US$3.6 million) will be spent to complete the task. She vowed to make Kaohsiung a city that is not just notable for the beauty of its Love River.
World Games 2009
Kaohsiung was the host city of World Games 2009. Chen Chu visited the People's Republic of China (commonly known as "China") to promote the Games. During a meeting with Beijing mayor Guo Jinlong, Chen addressed President Ma Ying-jeou with his formal title, which garnered much support from the DPP and the Kaohsiung City Council. Chen's trip to China was criticized by several localization activist groups including the Taiwan Solidarity Union. However, Chen said that the trip was intended to benefit Kaohsiung. During her trip, she met with not only the mayor of Beijing, but also Shanghai mayor Han Zheng and Chinese Olympic Committee chairman Liu Pong.
The main venue for the Games, the World Games Stadium, was designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The groundbreaking and completion of the stadium both occurred during Chen's term as mayor.
The closing ceremony was held at the sold-out World Games Stadium, where International World Games Association President Ron Froehlich called it a "fantastic success" and declared it the "best ever." Kaohsiung's tourism bureau announced that the Games generated almost US$61 million in revenue for the city. The city's department stores reported a 15 percent growth in sales. Mayor Chen said that Kaohsiung would no longer be known only as the second largest city in Taiwan, but also as the city that hosted the best World Games ever.
Typhoon Fanapi
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Chen Chu was criticized for napping in her residence while parts of Kaohsiung flooded when Typhoon Fanapi ripped through Taiwan on 19 September 2010.
Chen tearfully admitted to napping and to feeling guilty for taking a rest. She also stressed that she returned home to change her wet clothes and was also keeping a close eye on the storm. Critics called for Chen to resign from her post, and compared Chen's napping to former Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan's getting a haircut and former Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsieh Hsiang-chuan's attending a Father's Day dinner during August 2009's Typhoon Morakot.
Chen Chu and the City Government were sued by Benhe borough (本和里) chief Lin Chi-mei (林紀美), a fellow DPP member, in the aftermath of the flooding, alleging that the city government did not maintain proper facilities that might have prevented flooding.
2010 Kaohsiung mayoral election
On 27 November 2010, Chen ran for reelection, opposing the KMT's Huang Chao-shun and independent candidate Yang Chiu-hsing.She eventually won the 2010 Kaohsiung mayoral election with 52.80% of votes. This was the first time elections were held for thespecial municipality of Kaohsiung, a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County that became official on December 25.
| Party | # | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Progressive Party | 3 | Chen Chu | 821,089 | 52.80% |   | |
.svg){kind=icon} Independent | 1 | Yang Chiu-hsing | 414,950 | 26.68% |  | |
| Kuomintang | 2 | Huang Chao-shun | 319,171 | 20.52% |  | |
| Total | 1,555,210 | 100.00% | ||||
| Voter turnout | 72.52% | |||||
2014 gas explosions
Citizens of Kaohsiung have criticized Chen for a slow reaction to the 2014 Kaohsiung gas explosions. The Kuomintang caucus of the Kaohsiung City Council sued her for negligence that led to loss of life. A subpoena was issued for Chen and three other city officials on 22 September. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict Chen on 18 December.
2014 Kaohsiung mayoral election
On 29 November 2014, Chen Chu ran for a third mayoral term in the 2014 elections as the DPP candidate. She faced Yang Chiu-hsing of the KMT. She eventually won with 68.09% of votes.
| 2014 Kaohsiung City Mayoralty Election Result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | ||
| 1 | Chou Ko-sheng (周可盛) | Independent | 14,925 | 1.02% | ||
| 2 | Chen Chu | DPP | 993,300 | 68.09% |  | |
| 3 | Yang Chiu-hsing | KMT | 450,647 | 30.89% | ||