Loading AI tools
Taiwanese media personality and politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jaw Shaw-kong (Chinese: 趙少康; pinyin: Zhào Shǎokāng; born 6 May 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, media personality and entrepreneur.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (March 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Jaw Shaw-kong | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
趙少康 | |||||||||||||||||
 Jaw in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Legislative Yuan | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 February 1993 – 6 December 1994 | |||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Taipei County | ||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 February 1987 – 31 May 1991 | |||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Taipei 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Convenor of the New Party National Committee | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 10 August 1993 – 2 May 1994 | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Yok Mu-ming | ||||||||||||||||
| Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 June 1991 – 15 November 1992 | |||||||||||||||||
| Premier | Hau Pei-tsun | ||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Eugene Chien | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Larry Chen (acting) | ||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Taipei City Council | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 December 1982 – 31 January 1986 | |||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | 2nd district | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 6 May 1950 Keelung, Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Kuomintang (1968–1994, 2021–present) New Party (1993–2002) | ||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Liang Lei | ||||||||||||||||
| Education | National Taiwan University (BS) Clemson University (MS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
| ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 趙少康 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 赵少康 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Jaw served a single term on the Taipei City Council before being elected to the Legislative Yuan from 1987 to 1991 and 1993 to 1994. In 1993, he co-founded the pro-unification New Party, which he briefly led until 1994. Between Legislative Yuan stints, Jaw led the Environmental Protection Administration. He was the vice presidential candidate of the Kuomintang (KMT) in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election.
Jaw was born on 6 May 1950 in Keelung and grew up in Luodong, Yilan County.[1][2] His ancestral home is in Hebei, China where his father, Jaw Yan-min, was born in 1922, and served in the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army and recruited in the Whampoa Military Academy when he was 16. He fought for the NRA in the Chinese Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War before the KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949.[3][better source needed]
Jaw earned a degree in agricultural engineering from National Taiwan University in 1972, then attended Clemson University in the United States, where he obtained a master's degree in mechanical engineering.[4][5]
Jaw was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981 and served until 1986, when he was elected to the Legislative Yuan.[6] In June 1991, he began serving as head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).[5][7] In 1992, against the wishes of his party, the Kuomintang, Jaw resigned from the EPA to seek reelection to the legislature.[8] Despite the party's refusal to support him, Jaw won a record number of votes.[8][9] He later became a member of the New Kuomintang Alliance and the Breakfast Club, set up in opposition to party chairman Lee Teng-hui.[8][10] In August 1993, he and other members of the New Kuomintang Alliance split from the Kuomintang and co-founded the pro-unification New Party.[11][12]
In 1994, Jaw resigned his legislative seat to contest to the Taipei City mayoralty on behalf of the New Party,[13][14] but lost to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian.[9][15] Although the pan-Blue forces gained the majority of the votes overall, the vote was split between Jaw and Kuomintang candidate Huang Ta-chou, granting Chen victory in the election.[16]
| 1994 Taipei City mayoral election result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | # | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||
.svg){kind=icon} Independent |
1 | Ji Rong-zhi (紀榮治) | 3,941 | 0.28% |  | |
 New Party |
2 | Jaw Shaw-kong | 424,905 | 30.17% |  | |
| Democratic Progressive Party | 3 | Chen Shui-bian | 615,090 | 43.67% |   | |
| Kuomintang | 4 | Huang Ta-chou | 364,618 | 25.89% |  | |
| Total | 1,408,554 | 100.00% | ||||
| Voter turnout | ||||||
Jaw announced his intention to retire from politics in July 1996.[17] Soon after announcing his withdrawal from politics in 1996, Jaw founded UFO Radio.[18] He also owned News98 and served as its president.[19][20] In 2006, Jaw acquired the Broadcasting Corporation of China.[21] He has also hosted his own radio and television programs.[22][23][24]
In 2004, Jaw was invited to debate the referendum on cross-strait relations.[25] He was named an adviser to Kuomintang candidates during the 2010 election cycle.[26] In 2017, Jaw reiterated that he was an independent.[27]
Jaw announced his interest about returning to politics in February 2021, disclosing that he had met with Han Kuo-yu in September 2020, who told Jaw that he should return to the Kuomintang and run for the party leadership.[28][29] The restoration of Jaw's party membership was announced on 3 February 2021,[30] and he subsequently expressed interest in contesting the 2021 party leadership election,[30] as well as the primary for the 2024 presidential election cycle.[31][32] Jaw stated on 28 April 2021 that he was no longer considering a run for the Kuomintang chairmanship.[33][34]
On 24 November 2023, the Kuomintang named Jaw its vice presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election.[35]
Jaw is a staunch supporter of unification with China,[36] albeit not under the People's Republic of China,[37] and believes unification is not possible under the current circumstances.[38] He opposes Taiwanese independence, saying there would be no war across the Taiwan Strait as long as Taiwan did not formally declare independence. He believes the current focus of cross-strait relations should be peaceful development, and that it was for the next generation in both sides to see which political system "would bring the greatest happiness to the people."[38]
Jaw is fluent in Taiwanese Hokkien.[1] He is married to Liang Lei.[39] Jaw's younger brother Chao Shao-wei has served as president of the Taipei Artist Agency Association.[40] Jaw and I-Mei Foods CEO Louis Ko were classmates in university and have remained friends despite disagreements on issues such as importing pork from the United States.[41]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
