Jaw Shaw-kong (; born 6 May 1950) is a Taiwanese media personality and politician. Jaw served a single term on the

Taipei City Council Taipei City Council () is the city council of Taipei, Taiwan. One of the largest local councils in Taiwan, the city council is currently composed of 63 councillors, all elected lately in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections. Composition ...

before being elected 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 ...

from 1987 to 1991 and 1993 to 1994. Between Legislative Yuan stints, Jaw led the Environmental Protection Administration.

Education

Jaw earned a degree in agricultural engineering from

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

in 1972, then attended

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

in the United States, where he obtained a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

Political career

Jaw was elected to the

in 1981 and served until 1986, when he was elected to the

. In 1991, he was tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Administration. Against the wishes of his party, the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

, Jaw resigned from the EPA to seek reelection to the legislature. Despite the party's refusal to support him, Jaw won a record number of votes. He later became a member of the

New Kuomintang Alliance The New Kuomintang Alliance () was a faction of Kuomintang in the Republic of China (Taiwan), active late 20th century. Composed of mainly younger mainlanders, this faction was in favor of intraparty reform. It accused President Lee Teng-hui of ...

and the Breakfast Club, set up in opposition to party chairman

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the fir ...

. In August 1993, he co-founded the New Party. The next year, Jaw resigned his legislative seat to contest to the Taipei City mayoralty on behalf of the New Party, and lost to

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

. Jaw announced his intention to retire from politics in July 1996. In 2004, Jaw, a staunch supporter of unification, was invited to debate the referendum on Cross-Strait relations. He was named an adviser to Kuomintang candidates during the 2010 election cycle. In 2017, Jaw reiterated that he was an independent. In February 2021, Jaw disclosed that he had met with

Han Kuo-yu Daniel Han Kuo-yu (; born 17 June 1957) is a Taiwanese politician. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1993 to 2002, representing a portion of Taipei County for three terms. He later became general manager of Taipei Agricultural Produc ...

in September 2020, who told Jaw that he should return to the Kuomintang and run for the party leadership. The restoration of Jaw's party membership was announced on 3 February 2021, and he subsequently expressed interest in contesting the 2021 party leadership election, as well as the primary for the 2024 presidential election cycle. Jaw stated on 28 April 2021 that he was no longer considering a run for the Kuomintang chairmanship.

Media career

Soon after announcing his withdrawal from politics in 1996, Jaw founded UFO Radio. He also owned and served as its president. In 2006, Jaw acquired the Broadcasting Corporation of China. He has also hosted his own radio and television programs.

Personal life

Though Jaw is of

Waishengren ''Waishengren'' (), sometimes called mainlanders, are a group of migrants who arrived in Taiwan from mainland China between the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, and Kuomintang retreat and the end of the Chinese Civil War i ...

ancestry, he is fluent in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...

. He is married to Liang Lei. Jaw's younger brother Chao Shao-wei has served as president of the Taipei Artist Agency Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaw, Shaw-kong 1950 births Anti-Japanese sentiment in Taiwan New Party Members of the Legislative Yuan Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Members of the 2nd Legislative Yuan Members of the Kuomintang National Taiwan University alumni Clemson University alumni Taiwanese radio presenters Taiwanese television presenters New Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Keelung Taiwanese political party founders Taiwanese environmentalists Living people Taiwanese Ministers of Environment Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Taipei City Councilors Leaders of the New Party (Taiwan)