Yao Ching-ling
Taiwanese political scientist and politician (born 1969)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yao Ching-ling (Chinese: 饒慶鈴; pinyin: Ráo Qìnglíng; born 23 November 1969), also known by the English name April Yao,[1] is a Taiwanese political scientist and politician who has served as the magistrate of Taitung since 2018. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), she was previously elected as a member of Taitung County Council in 2005 and became speaker in 2010.
Yao Ching-ling | |
|---|---|
饒慶鈴 | |
Official portrait, 2022 | |
| 13th Magistrate of Taitung | |
| Assumed office 25 December 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Justin Huang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 November 1969 |
| Party | Kuomintang |
| Parent |
|
| Education | Fu Jen Catholic University (BA) San Jose State University (MA) National Taiwan Normal University (PhD) |
Education
Yao graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese literature and earned a master's degree in media literacy from San Jose State University. She then earned her Ph.D. in political science from National Taiwan Normal University in 2005.[2] Her doctoral dissertation was titled, "A comparative study of policies on overseas Chinese affairs in mainland China and Taiwan: Overseas Chinese education" (海峽兩岸推展僑務政策之比較研究：兼論僑教之比較).[3]
Political career
Yao was elected to the Taitung County Council after winning the local election on 3 December 2005, making her the youngest councilor to be elected at the age of 36. In 2010, she was elected as the speaker of the county council.[2]
While serving on the county council, Yao explored bids for higher office, contesting Kuang Li-chen for the Taitung magistracy in 2009,[4] and a seat on the Legislative Yuan in 2012.[5] In 2016, Yao was appointed a deputy secretary-general of the Kuomintang, under chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu.[6][7]
2018 Taitung County magistrate election
Yao defeated Liao Kuo-tung in a Kuomintang primary and subsequently received her party's nomination to contest the Taitung magistracy in 2018.[8][9]
| 2018 Kuomintang Taitung County magistrate primary results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Place | Results | ||
| April Yao | Nominated | Results not released | ||
| Liao Kuo-tung | 2nd | Results not released | ||
She faced Democratic Progressive Party challenger Liu Chao-hao and three independent candidates, including former county commissioner Kuang Li-chen.[10][11] Yao won the magisterial election held on 24 November 2018.[2][12]
| 2018 Taitung County mayoral results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | |
| 1 | Kuang Li-chen | .svg){kind=icon} Independent | 3,049 | 2.55% | |
| 2 | Liu Chao-hao | Democratic Progressive Party | 44,264 | 37.04% | |
| 3 | Huang Yu-pin (黃裕斌) | Independent | 640 | 0.54% | |
| 4 | Peng Chuan-kuo (彭權國) | Independent | 988 | 0.83% | |
| 5 | April Yao |  Kuomintang | 70,577 | 59.05% | .svg){kind=small} |
| Total voters | 179,706 | ||||
| Valid votes | 119,518 | ||||
| Invalid votes | |||||
| Voter turnout | 66.51% | ||||
2025 trip to China
In January, Yao led a delegation to China and met with Taiwan Affairs Office head Song Tao, drawing criticism.[13]
