Quick Facts
Taurus
Biography
Cynthia Wu (Chinese: 吳欣盈; pinyin: Wú Xīnyíng; also Wu Hsin-ying; born 18 May 1978) is a Taiwanese business executive and politician. She worked for subsidiaries of Merrill Lynch in the United Kingdom and the Shin Kong Group in Taiwan before she was appointed to the Legislative Yuan in 2022.
She was the vice presidential nominee of the Taiwan People's Party in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election as Ko Wen-je's running mate.
Early life and education
Cynthia Wu was born in the United States on 18 May 1978. She is the eldest daughter of Eugene Wu and his wife Hsu Hsien-hsien. Her maternal grandfather is banker and politician Hsu Sheng-fa. Her uncles Eric and Thomas Wu are also business executives, and Eric Wu had previously served on the Legislative Yuan. Cynthia Wu's younger sister is Wu Hsin-ju, and her younger brother is Wu Yi-tung. She attended Taipei American School, Wellesley College and The Courtauld Institute of Art.
Career
While living in the United Kingdom, Wu worked for Merrill Lynch in London. While residing in the UK, Cynthia Wu was an assistant to Conservative Party politician Peter Lilley. She held dual US and Taiwanese citizenships, but renounced her US citizenship in 2014.
After returning to Taiwan, Wu was an executive at Shin Kong Life Insurance, a division of the Shin Kong Group, which was founded by her paternal grandfather Wu Ho-su.
Wu was ranked seventh on the Taiwan People's Party list prior to the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election. After the resignation of Tsai Pi-ru, Wu was appointed to the 10th Legislative Yuan on 2 November 2022.
On 24 November 2023, Taiwan People's Party chairman Ko Wen-je named Wu as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election. Despite controversy regarding her citizenship, on 4 December, all presidential and vice-presidential candidates were found and declared eligible to run for election, including Cynthia Wu.
Personal life
Cynthia Wu married Tommy Lin, an executive at Hua Nan Securities and a descendant of Lin Ben Yuan Family, in 2010. In September 2013, Wu noticed that Lin, who suspected her of infidelity, had installed a GPS tracking unit in her car, and subsequently filed for divorce. Lin was acquitted in the first ruling, and the divorce was not granted. Although a second ruling in 2019 granted the divorce, Wu stated that the decision would deny her the experience of motherhood, as embryos that had been artificially inseminated during her marriage to Lin would be destroyed.
Wu married Belgian baron Renaud van der Elst in 2022, and she gave birth to their son on 9 February 2023.
