Chen Ming-wen (; born 13 May 1955) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chiayi County Magistrate from 2001 to 2009, until his election to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

, where he has served since 2008.

Career

In 1977, upon his graduation from

National Chiayi University National Chiayi University (NCYU; ) is a public university located in Chiayi City and Chiayi County, Taiwan. It was formed in 2000 by merging National Chiayi Institute of Technology and National Chiayi Teachers College. The University has six ...

, he was elected to the

Chiayi County Council The Chiayi County Council (CYSCC; ) is the elected county council of Chiayi County, Republic of China. The council consists of 37 councilors lastly elected through the 2018 Republic of China local election on 24 November 2018. History The counc ...

as a councilor. In 1981, Chen was elected as Chairman of the Chiayi County Council at age 27, the youngest chairman in the history of

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

. Later he was elected to the

Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council The Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council (TPCC) was the council of the streamlined Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. In July 2018, all duties of the Taiwan Provincial Government and TPCC were transferred to the National Development Co ...

in 1985, while completing his degree in philosophy at

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Un ...

, and won subsequent elections twice in 1989 and 1994 and was again elected a legislator to the

in 1998. Chen served as the

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

of Chiayi County from 2001 to 2008, with a satisfactory rate over 60% upon retiring his office. He became a member of the Legislative Yuan and of the Central Standing Committee of the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

. Chen is tipped to become the next generation leader of the DPP, ranked after former premier

Su Tseng-Chang Hope Su Tseng-chang (; born 28 July 1947) is a Taiwanese politician serving as premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2019, and previously from 2006 to 2007. He was the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party in 2005 and from 2012 ...

and the party chairman

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as ...

Scandal

On 3 September 2019, Chen took a

Taiwan High Speed Rail Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is the high-speed railway of Taiwan consisting of one line that runs approximately along the west coast, from the capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a pri ...

train from Chiayi to North. He said he lost a suitcase (containing NT$3 million dollar) on the train. That suitcase was picked up by the staff of Taiwan high speed rail, who immediately alerted the police, and notified the owner. Then his youngest son, Chen Zheng-Ting stated that his father had provided him with funds to go to the Philippines to open a bubble tea shop to continue his mother’s career. The money was used to pay for the manufacturers’ equipments, raw materials and foreign currency accounts.

References

1955 births Living people Tokai University alumni Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan Chiayi County Members of the Legislative Yuan Members of the 7th Legislative Yuan Members of the 8th Legislative Yuan Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan Magistrates of Chiayi County Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan {{Taiwan-DPP-politician-stub