Ma Ying-jeou

Ma Ying-jeou, July 9, 2011.

Ma Ying-jeou ( Chinese  馬英九  /  马英九 , Pinyin Mǎ Yīngjiǔ , Hakka Mâ Yîn-kiú , Pe̍h-ōe-jī Má Eng-kiú ; * July 13, 1950 in Hong Kong ) was from May 20, 2008 to May 19, 2016 President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) . He is a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), whose party chair he was from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2014.

biography

Ma Ying-jeou was born in the then British crown colony of Hong Kong . His family, members of the Kuomintang, moved to Taiwan a year after he was born . As a refugee from the civil war, he is considered Waishengren ("Mainland Chinese") among the Taiwanese . In 1972, he graduated in law at the National Taiwan University and went on a scholarship of the KMT in the United States , where he attended the New York University a Master's degree and at Harvard University the doctorate earned in the field of international law. In 1981 he returned to Taiwan.

Ma Ying-jeou is married and has two daughters, Ma Wei-chung and Ma Yuan-chung. He has been an avid jogger for more than 20 years . In addition to standard Chinese , he speaks fluent English . He also learned Taiwanese , Hakka and French .

Political career

Collane pro Merito Melitensi (2015)

In 1984 he became secretary (English interpreter) to President Chiang Ching-kuo and shortly thereafter served as vice-general secretary of the KMT (1984–1988), then he took on various ministerial posts (including justice and mainland affairs) in the KMT government. As Minister of Justice, he carried out many reforms, including a. an anti-corruption campaign within our own ranks. His reforms were soon criticized by the KMT, which is why he was dismissed. His popularity as a “clean man” grew.

Political opponents claim that Ma helped create blacklists for independence supporters and campaigned for the continuation of martial law (until 1987).

In 1998 he prevailed in the election for mayor of Taipei , was re-elected in 2002 and remained in office until 2006. After that he did not run again for election. His successor in the mayor's office, Hau Lung-Bin ( Chinese  郝龍斌 , Pinyin Hǎo Lóngbīn ), is also a member of the KMT. On July 16, 2005, he was elected to succeed Lien Chan as chairman of the KMT, but had to live up to his own announcement on February 13, 2007 that he would resign if he were ever charged with corruption. Shortly afterwards, he announced his readiness to run in the ROC's 2008 presidential election.

Ma was formally charged in 2007 for irregularities in the use of the mayor's personal fund, but was acquitted by the court of first instance. On December 28, 2007, the court of appeal was finally acquitted. Legally, the courts actually viewed the use of the money in a gray area, which did not result in any criminal consequences for the accused. This eventually brought about the exculpation of Mas.

In the final instance, the Supreme Court decided on April 24, 2008 that Ma would be acquitted of this charge.

First term as President

The presidential election won Ma Ying-jeou on 22 March 2008, 58 percent of the vote, while his rival Frank Hsieh could unite almost 42 percent of the votes. On October 17, 2009 Ma also took over the post of party leader of the Kuomintang for the second time.

Ma said he wanted to stimulate Taiwan's economy more. He also wants to relax relations with the People's Republic of China . He envisions a peace treaty to end the conflict with the Chinese communists that has been going on since 1946. He also spoke out in favor of stronger economic ties within the framework of the WTO commitments entered into by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) . On the occasion of his swearing-in as president on May 20, 2008, Ma emphasized that he opposed unification with the People's Republic of China as well as Taiwan independence and supported the so-called " 1992 consensus ".

Second term as President

In January 2012, Ma won the presidential election by an absolute majority in front of Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The result was seen as confirmation of his policy of rapprochement with the People's Republic of China.

But the beginning of Mas’s second term turned out to be difficult. After corruption scandal involving Kuomintang members became known in the immediate vicinity of the president, a wiretapping scandal shook the public in September 2013. A special investigation unit of the Ministry of Justice, with the knowledge of the President, had wiretapped the telephone conversations of numerous MPs from the Legislative Yuan (the Republic of China's parliament), including the Speaker of the House, Wang Jin-pyng .

In addition, the below-expected economic growth and the efforts of Mas to open the Taiwanese market to service providers from the People's Republic of China, aroused public protest. A polling institute found in a representative survey in September 2013 that only 9.2 percent of the Taiwanese population were satisfied with the president's government. After the Kuomintang's landslide-like defeats in the national local elections on November 29, 2014, Ma resigned as party leader on December 3, 2014.

Condemnation

After the end of his last term as president, Ma was tried in court for divulging confidential information in connection with the wiretapping scandal in September 2013 and was sentenced to four months in prison on May 15, 2018 in the second instance. The penalty can be converted into a fine of 120,000 Taiwan dollars . Ma announced that she would appeal the judgment.

Honors

• 2012 - Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia .

Ma has been a holder of the Pro Merito Melitensi Order of Merit since 2015 .

literature

• Günter Schucher, Julian Rothkopf: Satisfaction with Taiwan's President Ma at rock bottom. GIGA Focus Asia No. 2/2014.

Web links

Commons : Ma Ying-jeou  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Kuomintang

Individual evidence

1. ^ Family ( Memento of May 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Biographical website.
2. ↑ Chin Heng-wei, “The Ma Ying-jeou myth perishes,” August 27, 2009, Taipei Times .
3. ^ Opposition presidential candidate Ma Yingjiu acquitted of corruption allegation ( Memento from July 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Radio Taiwan International , December 28, 2007.
4. ↑ www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/04/25/153499/Court-clears.htm , Chinapost of April 25, 2008.
5. ↑ Ma wants better relations with China . Der Spiegel , March 23, 2008.
6. ↑ Ma Ying-jeou rejects unification with China ( Memento of May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). Tages-Anzeiger , May 20, 2008.
7. ^ President Ma Ying-jeou wins election. In: derStandard.at . January 14, 2012, accessed January 15, 2012.
8. ^ Martin Aldrovandi: Eavesdropping in Taiwan. In: Asienspiegel . October 2, 2013, accessed January 1, 2014.
9. ↑ Sheryn Lee: Protestors show Taiwanese democracy is alive and kicking. In: East Asia Forum . October 8, 2013 (English).
10. ↑ ERA News ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 15, 2013. 
11. ^ Taiwan Today , December 3, 2014
12. ↑ Ma found guilty of leaking information , Taipei Times on May 16, 2018
13. ↑ Gambia: President Ma Conferred With GCRG. The Daily Observer , April 12, 2012, archived from the original ; accessed on February 3, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Message on Facebook

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Ma is the family name here, Ying-jeou is the first name.