Jiang Yi-huah

Jiang Yi-huah (born 18 November 1960) is a Taiwanese politician and former Premier of Taiwan (ROC).

Jiang was born into a Hakka family in Keelung, a city in northern Taiwan in 1960.

During high school when he was 13, it was reported that he once wrote an essay saying that his dream career was to be the President of the Republic of China once he grew up.

He earned his bachelor's and master's degree in political science from National Taiwan University (NTU).

He did his doctoral degree in political science from Yale University, United States in 1993.

Upon graduation, he returned to Taiwan to become a professor at NTU.

MOI officially launched the "1996 Hotline of Interior Affairs" in November 2011 after three months operation trial.

Speaking at the press conference, Jiang said that the MOI is in charge of almost everything in people's daily life, ranging from marriage and birth registration, various social welfare and subsidies provider, petition service, corruption reporting, housing transfer registration and emergency reporting.

In order to make their service more efficient and more convenient to people, MOI has merged some of their service hotline into one single number.

Jiang entered politics for the first time in 2008 when he was appointed as the Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan on 20 May 2008.

He served as Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2012 and Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan from 2008 to 2009.

During a press conference in June 2009, Jiang said that the Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee of the Executive Yuan has decided to abolish Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Act which regulates sexual transaction that can cause detention or fining of the sex workers.

However, the final decision will be left to the local governments.

On 10 September 2009, Jiang was appointed as Minister of the Interior (MOI).

At the age of 49, he was the youngest person to ever hold the office.

The handing over ceremony from the outgoing Minister Liao Liou-yi was presided by Premier Wu Den-yih in Taipei.

Speaking at Legislative Yuan in October 2009, Jiang, accompanied by Premier Wu Den-yih, said that Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer should not be permitted to enter Taiwan because her World Uyghur Congress is closely associated with terrorist group.

His remark was supported by the Premier.

In December 2009, Jiang said that officials from Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice should ensure justice and fairness in administrative electoral process by avoiding stumping on the candidates.

In March 2010, Jiang said that Taiwan will have seven kinds of local elections being held all in one day starting in 2014.

Prior to his appointment as the Premier, Jiang was the Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 2012 to 2013.

Jiang was appointed to become Vice Premier on 6 February 2012.

With this, he had to resign from his professorship at NTU.

In July 2012, Jiang said that the Executive Yuan is mulling immigration and population policy in order to attract foreign talents, boost human capital and improve Taiwan's competitiveness.

He added that policies from various ministries will be integrated so that this regulation change won't affect much to the current local employment.

Jiang was sworn in as the President of the Executive Yuan on 18 February 2013 at the Presidential Office in the ceremony presided over by Vice President Wu Den-yih, thus making him the Premier of the Republic of China.

He was the youngest premier since Chen Cheng to take office.

After the inauguration, Jiang pledged to push for government reform.

Jiang also wanted to meet with all opposition party leaders in near future upon his inauguration as Premier.

He wishes to see a change in political culture and improve communication between the ruling party and opposition parties to have a more effective legislative.

In March 2013, Jiang reiterated his support to the 1992 Consensus policy of governing the relations between Taiwan and Mainland China that there is one China.

However, he further explained that the KMT's point of view of one-China is that both sides maintain the status quo (no independence, no reunification, no use of force), not the immediate reunification.

However, he is still not sure if Beijing allows Taiwan's interpretation of "One-China" as the "Republic of China".

Two weeks into his premiership in early March 2013, Jiang stated that he will tender his resignation from the Premier of the Republic of China if the nation votes to halt the construction of Taiwan's 4th nuclear power plant in the upcoming referendum due to the long ongoing debate of nuclear power plants in Taiwan.

He even added that Taiwan will face energy crisis in the future once Taiwan's first and second nuclear power plant have reached the end of their life cycle respectively and the fourth plant hasn't been put online.

In mid-March 2013 speaking at the Legislative Yuan, Jiang said that all nuclear power plants in Taiwan will be decommissioned by 2055, including the currently constructed Longmen Nuclear Power Plant, based on their 40-year operating lifecycle.

In early April 2013, Jiang promised that he will remove the nuclear disposal area from its current place at Orchid Island in Taitung County once the new site has been identified, although no time table has been announced for the relocation.

On 29 November 2014, he tendered his resignation and was succeeded by Mao Chi-kuo on 8 December 2014.

In September 2014 ahead of independence referendum of Scotland from the United Kingdom, Jiang stated that there is no need for the ROC, as an independent nation, to hold an independence referendum.

He denied that there was a similar comparison between Taiwan and Scottish referendum, adding that keeping the ROC as an independent and sovereign state is the top priority for the government to do.