James Soong

James Soong Chu-yu (born 16 March 1942) is a Taiwanese politician who is the founder and current Chairman of the People First Party.

With the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the family fled to Taiwan in 1949.

He earned his bachelor's degree in diplomacy from National Chengchi University in 1964.

Soong travelled to the United States for graduate school and received an M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 and an M.S. in library science from The Catholic University of America in 1971.

He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Georgetown University in 1974.

While at Berkeley, Soong met his future wife Viola Chen.

They later had a son and a daughter.

As he was finishing his doctoral studies, Soong was recommended by GIO Director Fredrick Chien to be the English secretary of then-Premier Chiang Ching-kuo.

Soong served as Secretary to Premier from 1974–1977 and with Chiang Ching-kuo's accession to the presidency, the Personal Secretary to the President from 1978–1981 and 1984-1989.

Soong gained his public fame when he addressed the nation following the Carter administration's decision to break ties with the ROC in order to switch diplomatic ties to the People's Republic of China on December 16, 1978 in which he gave a patriotic condemnation of the American position and a ringing defense of the ROC.

Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong began his political career as a secretary to Premier Chiang Ching-kuo (later president) and rose to prominence as director-general of the Government Information Office (GIO) from 1979 to 1984.

Upon Chiang's death, Soong was instrumental in silencing conservatives in the KMT from blocking the ascendancy of Lee Teng-hui as KMT leader.

Soon afterwards, President Chiang promoted Soong to become the youngest Director-General of the GIO, in which he served from 1979 to 1984.

Upon Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, Soong was seen as instrumental in consolidating the power of the new president, Lee Teng-hui.

Soong was part of the Palace Faction that included Chiang loyalists such as Hau Pei-tsun and Lee Huan and which sought to limit Lee Teng-hui and his native Taiwanese faction's role in the government.

During the KMT's central standing committee on the day of Chiang's funeral, when the Palace Faction sought to delay Lee's accession to the party Chairmanship, Soong unexpectedly made an impassioned plea in favour of Lee, declaring that "Each day of delay is a day of disrespect to Ching-kuo."

He also made a veiled criticism of Soong Mei-ling (no relation), implying that she had returned to Taiwan after her stepson's death to try to reassume power.

Soong established himself as one of the few mainlanders who were also loyal to Lee.

In support of Soong, Lee coined the term "New Taiwanese" to describe a person born in mainland China, raised in Taiwan, who calls Taiwan home.

Lee moved swiftly to promote Soong to KMT Secretary-General, a position Soong held from 1989 to 1993.

In 1993, Lee appointed him Governor of Taiwan Province.

In June 1993, Soong opened a Credit Suisse account, three months after he had stepped down as KMT secretary-general, and it closed in 2010.

Soong was the only elected governor of Taiwan Province from 1994 to 1998, before the streamlining of the provincial government.

In 1994 Soong was elected and became the only directly elected Governor of Taiwan Province.

He was widely perceived to be an excellent campaigner and his excellent showing in the governorship ended hopes by the DPP of a "Yeltsin effect", by which an elected governor would have more legitimacy than the national government, due to the President being still elected by the National Assembly at that time.

Despite his Mainlander background, Soong proved to be a popular politician among all ethnic groups on Taiwan, in part because he was one of the first KMT politicians to attempt to speak in Taiwanese Hokkien in political and formal occasions.

After Premier Lien Chan was elected vice-president in 1996, the premiership was vacated in 1997 after the Judicial Yuan ruled out that the person could not serve both vice-president and premier.

Soong felt that as Governor of Taiwan, he was the natural successor to Lien, but President Lee believed that Soong should serve out his term.

President Lee appointed Vincent Siew, whom Soong considered a subordinate, and this act led to the split between Soong and Lee.

The position of Governor of Taiwan was eliminated in December 1998 following a National Development Council meeting in 1996, when it suggested that the administrative structure of the Taiwanese government be streamlined.

He was placed second in the 2000 presidential election; his independent candidacy split the pro-Chinese unification vote between himself and the KMT candidate, Vice President Lien Chan, leading to the ascendancy of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian.

In the 2004 presidential election, he ran as vice president on the ticket of former Vice President Lien Chan; they narrowly lost to Chen Shui-bian.

In 2007 he held over 13 million Swiss francs in it, which is incompatible by his official salary as a public servant.

The account is one of a number of things which have led to implications of his involvement in the Taiwan frigate scandal.

Soong ran again as a candidate in the 2012 presidential race, garnering 2.77% of popular support.

Soong's third presidential campaign in 2016 formed a split ticket with Minkuotang chairwoman Hsu Hsin-ying and won 12.84% of the vote.

His 2020 campaign with running mate Sandra Yu finished last, with 4.2% of the vote.

As of 2022, his name appears in the Suisse secrets revelations.

Soong was born in Xiangtan, Hunan province.

His father, Soong Ta, was a career military officer staunchly loyal to Republic of China (ROC) President Chiang Kai-shek and rose to the rank of Major General in the Nationalist Army from an enlisted sailor.