Lin Chih-chien (; born 27 May 1975) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Hsinchu City Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

from 25 December 2014 to 8 July 2022.

Early life and education

Lin earned his bachelor's degree in business administration followed by a master's degree in technology management from Chung Hua University's College of Management in 2008. In 2017, he obtained a second master's degree 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 ...

's Graduate Institute of National Development, where his thesis discussed the 2014 Hsinchu mayoral elections. Both master's degrees were rescinded by the respective institutions after investigations confirmed that Lin had plagiarized his theses for the two degrees.

Mayor of Hsinchu City

2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin was elected as the Mayor of Hsinchu City after narrowly winning the 2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014.

2018 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin won reelection in 2018.

Later political career

Being term limited for the Hsinchu City mayoralty, Lin proposed consolidating Hsinchu City and

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

to form a

special municipality Special municipality may refer to: * Special municipality (Netherlands) There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility fo ...

, though he stated in December 2021 that he would not contest the mayoralty for this proposed entity during the 2022 local elections. In June 2022, he accepted the Democratic Progressive Party nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty. The following month,

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 ...

or claimed that Lin had plagiarized a research paper cowritten by Lee Yu-cheng and Wang Ming-lang while completing his master's degree at Chung Hua University's College of Management. Lin's adviser Ho Li-hsing and researcher Wang Ming-lang both signed written statements that asserted Lin had been on Wang Ming-lang's research team. Lin's second master's degree, obtained at

's Graduate Institute of National Development, was called into question by political commentator Huang Yang-ming. Huang suggested that Lin had plagiarized from Yu Cheng-huang, while Lin and

Chen Ming-tong Chen Ming-tong (; born 25 November 1955) is a Taiwanese politician and currently the Director-General of the National Security Bureau. He was the Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council from 2018 to 2021 and 2007 to 2008. Academic career Chen ...

, Lin's adviser at NTU, stated that Yu had utilized research material collected by Lin. National Taiwan University began into the allegations. The committee found that Lin plagiarized from Yu, and advised that Lin's master's degree be revoked National Taiwan University duly revoked his master's degree on 9 August 2022. Lin withdrew his nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty on 12 August 2022. After the conclusion of investigations, Chung Hua University also revoked his master's degree on 24 August 2022.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people Democratic Progressive Party (Taiwan) politicians Mayors of Hsinchu People involved in plagiarism controversies National Taiwan University alumni {{Taiwan-mayor-stub