Chang Ching-sen (; born 8 October 1959) is a Taiwanese

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and politician. He is known for his advocacy to resolve the North-South divide in Taiwan.

Early life and education

Chang graduated from

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(B.S.) and Ph.D. in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

in 1982 and 1991, respectively.

Political career

In the mid-2000s, Chang was the vice chairman of the

Council for Economic Planning and Development A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. He served as an advisor to

Ko Wen-je Ko Wen-je ( zh, c=柯文哲; born 6 August 1959), also known by his nickname, Ko P, is a Taiwanese politician and physician who served as the Mayor of Taipei, mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022. He founded the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in 201 ...

's 2014 Taipei mayoral campaign. He was named a policy advisor to

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...

's 2016 presidential bid. After Tsai won, her designated premier

Lin Chuan Lin Chuan (; born 13 December 1951) is a Taiwanese economist, lawyer, and politician who served as the Premier of the Republic of China from 2016 to 2017. He was the first cabinet head under the Tsai Ing-wen government. Before his premiership ...

named Chang to the cabinet as a minister without portfolio on 7 April 2016. Three weeks before he took office on 20 May, Chang made controversial comments on Facebook about an urban renewal project in

Shilin District Shilin District (also spelled Shihlin District, zh, t=士林區, p=Shìlínqū, poj=Sū-lîm-khu) is a district of Taipei. The central command center of the Republic of China Navy (ROCN) is located in Shilin. History The name ''Shilin'' w ...

. He apologized via Facebook two days after making the post, but later chose to deactivate his account on the social media platform.

Cross-strait relations

In September 2016 Chang made an unofficial statement that Mainland Chinese tourists are Taiwan's most needed friends, and to the Taiwanese that there is a difference between the Mainland Chinese people and the Mainland Chinese government.

References

1959 births Living people Local executives of places in Taiwan Government ministers of Taiwan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Yunlin County National Taiwan University alumni {{Taiwan-politician-stub