Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
Frank Chang-ting Hsieh (謝長廷): (born May 18, 1946 in Dadaocheng, Datong District, Taipei), a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party, was the mayor of Kaohsiung City until his appointment as Premier of the Republic of China by president Chen Shui-bian on February 1, 2005 a post from which he announced his resignation on January 17, 2006. Hsieh is the DPP nominee in the 2008 presidential election.
Rise in Politics
Hsieh received his Bachelor of Laws degree from National Taiwan University and Master of Laws degree from Kyoto University. He was a practicing attorney from 1969 to 1981, serving as a defense attorney in the Kaohsiung Incident of 1980.
Hsieh was involved in the Democratic Progressive Party's establishment and organization in 1986, suggesting the party's name. He became the chairman of the party from June 2000 to 2002 (preceded and succeeded by Chen Shui-bian). He was a Taipei city councilman from 1981 to 1988 (two terms) and a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1989 to 1995. Hsieh ran in the 1996 presidential as a vice-presidential candidate with Peng Ming-min on the DPP ticket. They finished second with 21.1% of the vote. He won the Kaohsiung City mayoral election in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002.
Kaohsiung Mayoralty
In 1998, Hsieh was elected the Kaohsiung Mayor. Under his administration, the walls of many parks and schools were taken down, with the goal of making the city seem more connected to the people. He also worked to improve the water qualities of rivers, including Love River. Hsieh improved the quality of the port of Kaohsiung.
According to a poll, the "Satisfaction of the mayoral/magistral administration," and the "Satisfaction of development improvement" of Kaohsiung are ranked No. 1 out of all the counties and cities in Taiwan. Also, more and more people are proud of living in Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung was widely considered to be improved a lot by the Hsieh administration.
As the second largest city in Taiwan, the office of Mayor of Kaohsiung is viewed as a prestigious position, often seen as a counterweight to the Mayor of Taipei.
Kaohsiung is sometimes seen as the political mirror image of Taipei. While northern Taiwan leans towards the Pan-Blue Coalition, southern Taiwan has traditionally leaned towards the Pan-Green Coalition, and Kaohsiung is no exception. Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Progressive Party was reelected twice as Mayor of Kaohsiung, where he was widely credited for transforming the city from an industrial sprawl into an attractive modern metropolis. Hsieh resigned from the office of mayor to take up the office of Premier of the Republic of China in 2005.
Premiership and Aftermath
Hsieh resigned as premier in the aftermath of the 2005 "Three-in-One" elections in which the KMT won over the DPP by a landslide.
As the DPP's candidate for the 2006 Taipei Mayoral election, Hsieh lost the race to KMT candidate Hau Lung-pin by 166,216 votes. However, this exceeded expectations (and predictions from most political polls) as President Chen was suffering from low approval ratings and Taipei heavily leaned towards the blue camp.
In February 2007, he led the Taiwanese delegation to the 55th annual United States National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, hosted by US Congressional Committee with dignitaries including President George W. Bush.
Presidential Election
Hsieh was frequently considered to be a contender for the DPP nomination in the 2008 presidential election, and formally announced his intention to run in the election on February 16. Hsieh was the second to formally announce candidacy after former-KMT chairman Ma Ying-Jeou, and the first from the Democratic Progressive Party. He has won 45% of the DPP primary votes and won the nomination, after the pending straw poll to be conducted May 9-11 was cancelled after his three primary opponents all conceded defeat. In July 2007, Frank Hsieh went on a trip to the United States called the trip of "Love and Trust" (「愛與信任」之旅).
