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Wei Yao-chien (Chinese: 魏耀乾; pinyin: Wèi Yàoqián; Wade–Giles: Wei4 Yao4-chʻien2; born 5 February 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and dentist.
Wei Yao-chien | |
|---|---|
魏耀乾 | |
| Member of the Legislative Yuan | |
| In office 1 February 1990 – 31 January 1996 | |
| Constituency | Tainan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 February 1950 Jiali, Tainan County, Taiwan |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations | Home Party Democratic Progressive Party |
| Education | Sun Yat-Sen Medical College (BS) National Taiwan University (MA) University of Essex (MA) Yale University (MPP) Harvard University |
| Profession | dentist |
Wei was born on 5 February 1950 in Tainan to a conservative family with strong ties to the Kuomintang.[1][2] After attending high school in Kaohsiung, he graduated from the Department of Dentistry of Sun Yat-Sen Medical College (now Sun Yat-sen University) in Guangzhou, China, and earned a master's degree in political science from National Taiwan University.[2]
Wei then went to England to be educated at the University of Essex, where he earned a master's degree in government, and then earned another master's degree from Yale University in the United States.[1][2] He also studied government at Harvard University, was a visiting researcher in environmental psychology at San Diego State University, and was a special researcher at the School of International Dispute Settlement (ISODARCO) at the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy.[3]
Wei turned against the Kuomintang after Fang Su-min and Lin Yi-hsiung's twin daughters were stabbed to death in 1979.[2] His friendship with Frank Hsieh also contributed to Wei's political beliefs.[2] Wei represented Tainan for two terms on the Legislative Yuan, from 1990 to 1996, as a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.[2][4] During his legislative tenure, Wei became known for fighting fellow lawmakers.[2] Wei alluded to his dental practice in describing physical confrontation attempts to "pull the tiger's teeth."[2] Wei left the Democratic Progressive Party to run an independent campaign for the Tainan County magistracy in 2001. Though a July 2001 opinion poll showed that Wei had not garnered much support,[5] a potential split in the Pan-Green Coalition's voter base between Wei and Su Huan-chih was still considered damaging to Su.[2][6] Wei's campaign was run by former Tainan deputy magistrate Lin Wen-ding.[7] Wei was placed on the Home Party list during the 2008 legislative elections, but not elected to the Legislative Yuan.[8] He contested the Lienchiang County magistracy as an independent in 2018.[9][1] In October 2023, Wei began campaigning for the January 2024 legislative election.[10][11]
In 2006, Wei served as executive director of the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go campaign led by Shih Ming-teh.[12] In this position, Wei acted as a spokesman and represented the campaign to the Legislative Yuan.[13][14] In February 2014, Wei founded the Jiawu Regime Change organization alongside fellow former legislators Chen Wan-chen and Payen Talu, among others, to advocate Taiwan independence.[15] Wei was in attendance at Tsai Ing-wen's presidential inauguration on 20 May 2016, alongside a group of protestors advocating for the replacement of the Constitution of the Republic of China with a Taiwan-centric supreme law.[16] In 2018, Wei and another former legislator, Liang Mu-yang, led a demonstration on the 71st anniversary of the 228 incident, again in support of a rewritten constitution for Taiwan.[17]
Wei has a one child, a son who has three master's degrees and a doctorate in law.[18]
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