Su Huan-chih
Taiwanese politician (born 1956)
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Su Huan-chih (Chinese: 蘇煥智; born July 20, 1956) is a Taiwanese politician who was the magistrate of Tainan County from 2001 to 2010, until Tainan County's merger into Tainan City. Born in a rural township in southern Taiwan, Su graduated from National Taiwan University. He passed the bar examination in 1986 and started his career as a lawyer.[1]
Su Huan-chih | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Su in 2007 | |||||||||
| 1st Convener of the Taiwan Renewal Party | |||||||||
| Assumed office August 24, 2019 | |||||||||
| Secretary General | Sam Lim | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| 10th Magistrate of Tainan County | |||||||||
| In office December 20, 2001 – December 25, 2010 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Mark Chen | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | William Lai (as Mayor of Tainan) | ||||||||
| Member of the Legislative Yuan | |||||||||
| In office February 1, 1993 – December 20, 2001 | |||||||||
| Constituency | Tainan County | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | July 20, 1956 | ||||||||
| Party | Taiwan Renewal Party (since 2019) | ||||||||
Other political affiliations | Independent (2018–2019) Democratic Progressive Party (1991–2018) | ||||||||
| Education | National Taiwan University (LLB) Fu Jen Catholic University | ||||||||
| Profession | Lawyer | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 蘇煥智 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏焕智 | ||||||||
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Su made his entry into politics in the 1990s. He was elected legislator three times in a row serving from 1992 to 2001. As an experienced legislator, Su launched a magisterial campaign in 2001 and was elected with over 51% of the votes, becoming the second member of the Democratic Progressive Party to ever hold the position.[2]
Early life and career
Su Huan-chih was born on July 20, 1956 in Cigu, Tainan County. He grew up in the agriculture-based township during his childhood years.[1]
Su began studying at the prestigious National Taiwan University, majoring in physics. He decided to drop out and switched his major to law in 1977, earning an LL.B. degree.[1] After passing the bar examination, Su started his career as a practicing lawyer. With his academic experience in physics, he was hired by IBM Taiwan to serve as its patent attorney.[1]
Su gave up his job at IBM and went back to his hometown to run for legislator. He was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1992. He promoted the senior welfare and environmental protection. Having been elected three times in a row, Su worked to decrease the difference in resource distribution between northern and southern Taiwan.[1]
Tainan magistracy
Su was elected the magistrate of Tainan County and took office on December 20, 2001.[3] He focused on preserving the environment of the region. For example, he worked with international ecologists and planned to build a research center near the habitat of black-faced spoonbills with a goal to preserve these endangered birds.[4]
The Su administration also improved the technological economy of the region. The net worth of the Tainan Science Park grew from NT$50.1 billion in 2001 to NT$451.6 billion in 2006. Apart from the growth in profit, many new industrial parks were established. As a result, Tainan County transformed from an agrarian county to a technological county.[1]
Despite the technological innovations, Su also promoted agriculture of southern Taiwan. The Taiwan Orchid Plantation (Chinese: 台灣蘭花科技園區) was founded during his term. The plantation has held three international exhibitions since its establishment. The exhibitions attracted more than 600 thousand visitors gaining NT$400 million from export orders.[1]
Later political career
In March 2018, Su began his independent campaign for the Taipei mayoralty.[5][6] He ended his Taipei mayoral bid in July, choosing to contest the same office in Tainan.[7]
| 2018 Tainan City mayoral results[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | |
| 1 | Huang Wei-cher | Democratic Progressive Party | 367,518 | 38.02% | .svg){kind=small} |
| 2 | Kao Su-po |  Kuomintang | 312,874 | 32.37% | |
| 3 | Lin Yi-feng (林義豐) | .svg){kind=icon} Independent | 84,153 | 8.71% | |
| 4 | Hsu Chun-hsin (許忠信) | Independent | 45,168 | 4.67% | |
| 5 | Chen Yong-he (陳永和) | Independent | 117,179 | 12.12% | |
| 6 | Su Huan-chih | Independent | 39,778 | 4.11% | |
| Total voters | 1,546,862 | ||||
| Valid votes | 966,670 | ||||
| Invalid votes | |||||
| Voter turnout | 62.49% | ||||
On 24 August 2019, Su founded the Taiwan Renewal Party and was elected its convenor.[9] During the 2022 local election cycle, Su contested the Taipei mayoralty.[10]
