Robin J. Winkler (; born 1953) is an American-born naturalized Taiwanese citizen who works as a lawyer and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

Career

Winkler has been a frequent frontline campaigner on green issues in

Taiwan 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 nort ...

, having founded the legal environmental defense organization Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association (台灣蠻野心足生態協會) and spoken out on causes of environmental concern in Taiwan. In 2003, Winkler renounced his United States citizenship and acquired Taiwanese citizenship. In February 2009, Winkler was considered for 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 ...

seat previously held by

Diane Lee Diane Lee Ching-an (; Lee Ching-an; born 17 January 1959) is a Taiwanese former politician. She naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1991, but later relinquished U.S. citizenship. Lee, a Kuomintang member, held elected public office in Taiwan fr ...

, representing

Green Party Taiwan Green Party Taiwan is a political party in Taiwan established on 25 January 1996. Although the party is sympathetic to Taiwan nationalism and shares a number of centre-left positions with the Pan-Green Coalition, the party emphasizes campaign ...

. In the end, however, Winkler was not able to stand due to limitations in the law. Instead, Calvin Wun (溫炳原), a former secretary-general of the party, stood in the by-election. Under the election laws of the Taiwan, Republic of China, naturalized citizens can stand for elections only after 10 years of citizenship. Winkler considers this requirement to be unconstitutional and has pursued the case through petition and an administrative lawsuit, the latter in an attempt to obtain a constitutional interpretation. On 31 March 2015, Winkler declared his candidacy for the Legislative Yuan seat for the constituency Taipei 1, which would represent the northern part of Shihlin as well as

Beitou Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. The historical spelling of the district is Peitou. The name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Kipatauw'', meaning witch. Beitou is the most mountainous and ...

. He withdrew from the race on November 25 without ever officially registering as a candidate.

References

External links

Facebook: 文魯彬 Robin Winkler
Taiwanese people of American descent American emigrants to Taiwan Naturalised citizens of Taiwan 1954 births Living people Taiwanese environmentalists Former United States citizens Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) {{Taiwan-law-bio-stub