Liao Feng-teh (; 17 April 1951 – 10 May 2008) was a Taiwanese politician who held leadership positions in 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 ...

. Liao was chosen to become the

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

designate in 2008 under Republic of China President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from ...

, following Ma's victory in the Taiwanese Presidential Election of 2008. However, Liao, Deputy Secretary-General of the

, died of cardiopulmonary failure while hiking on May 10, 2008, before he could take office.

Early life

Liao Feng-teh was a native of Tungshan Township, which is located in

Yilan County, Taiwan Yilan County, alternately spelled I-lan, is a County (Taiwan), county in northeastern Taiwan, Republic of China. Name The name ''Yilan'' derives from the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, indigenous Kavalan people. Other former names in referenc ...

in northeast Taiwan. He received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

from

National Chengchi University National Chengchi University () is a public research university in Taipei. The university is also considered as the earliest public service training facility of the Republic of China. First established in Nanjing in 1927, the university was subs ...

. Liao worked as a reporter for the China Daily News, a

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

daily newspaper, which is run by the KMT. He also worked as a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

before entering

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

within the KMT.

Political career

Liao Feng-teh worked as the

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

of the office of the then

vice president of the Republic of China The vice president of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as the vice president of Taiwan, is the second-highest constitutional office of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Powers Under Article 49 the Constitution of the Republic of Chin ...

Lien Chan Lien Chan (; born 27 August 1936) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993, Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 20 ...

from 1997 until 1999. He then served as a legislator in 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 1999 until 2005. Laio had served as the director of the Kuomintang's Organizational Development Committee since 2004. He oversaw eight successful election campaigns for the KMT from 2004 until the Presidential election in 2008. Following the 2008 election victory of

Taiwanese President The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...

, was chosen as the country's new

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

designate. He would have taken office with the new KMT controlled government on May 20, 2008.

Death

Liao was found unconscious by hikers on a mountain path near his home in Muzha, near the intersection of Wannin Street and Jungong Road on the outskirts of

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, at 4:05 P.M. on May 10, 2008. He had suffered from massive cardiopulmonary failure. Liao was rushed to Wan Fang Hospital where doctors attempted to

resuscitate Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emergency medicine. W ...

for five hours. Officials from the incoming KMT government rushed to the hospital upon hearing the news, including President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President

Vincent Siew Vincent C. Siew or Siew Wan-chang (; born 3 January 1939) is a Taiwanese politician who served as the Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2012. He was the first Taiwanese-born Premier of the Republic of China and former ...

and KMT Chairman

Wu Po-hsiung Wu Po-hsiung (; born 19 June 1939) is a Taiwanese politician who is a former chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT). He has been the Interior Minister (1984-1988), Mayor of Taipei (1988–1990), Secretary-General to the President (1991–1996), and ...

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Liu Chao-shiuan Liu Chao-shiuan (; born 10 May 1943) is a Taiwanese educator and politician. He is a former president of the National Tsing Hua University (1987–1993) and Soochow University (2004–2008) and a former Premier of the Republic of China (2008– ...

and other members of the new

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. However, Liao Feng-teh was pronounced dead at 9:05 PM on May 10, 2008, at the age of 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liao Feng-teh 1951 births 2008 deaths Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Yilan County Members of the Legislative Yuan 20th-century Taiwanese historians Taiwanese male novelists Taiwanese journalists Place of birth missing Members of the 4th Legislative Yuan Members of the 5th Legislative Yuan 20th-century novelists 20th-century male writers 20th-century journalists