Lee Ying-yuan

Lee Ying-yuan MLY
李應元
Minister of Environmental Protection Administration of the Republic of China (designated)
Taking office 20 May 2016
Deputy	Thomas Chan[1]
Succeeding	Wei Kuo-yen
Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party
In office 15 January 2008 – 15 May 2008
Chairperson	Chen Shui-bian
Preceded by	Chuo Rung-tai
Succeeded by	Wang Tuoh
Minister of Council of Labor Affairs of the Republic of China
In office 19 September 2005 – 20 May 2007
Preceded by	Chen Chu
Succeeded by	Lu Tien-ling
Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan
In office 1 February 2005 – 19 September 2005
Preceded by	Authur Iap
Succeeded by	Liu Yuh-san
Personal details
Born	16 March 1953 (age 63) Yunlin County, Taiwan
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Alma mater	National Taiwan University Harvard University University of North Carolina
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Health economist

Lee Ying-yuan (Chinese: 李應元; pinyin: Lǐ Yìngyuán) is a former Minister of Council of Labor Affairs of the Republic of China. He was the Secretary-General, Executive Yuan, 2005 and Secretary-General, Democratic Progressive Party, 2008.

Education

In 1988, Lee received his PhD in Health Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a letter of appointment from NTU, but was barred from returning to Taiwan by the KMT government due to criminal records stemming from his pro-democracy activities in the Formosa Incident during Taiwan's martial law period.

Return to Taiwan

After returning to Taiwan through illegal channels and avoiding intelligence agents for fourteen months, he was arrested with other dissidents, which triggered the movement to repeal Article 100 of the Criminal Code. Pressure from the international community and within Taiwan forced the legislature to abolish the Article.

Member of Parliament

Lee was elected to the National Parliament, the Legislative Yuan, in 1996.

Lee then became the youngest convener of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus in the legislature. Following DPP’s successful presidential election in 2000, Lee was appointed by President Chen Shui-Bian to be the Deputy Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the U.S. and then Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan. He was then the unsuccessful DPP candidate for Taipei City Mayor election in 2002, losing to President Ma in a landslide.^[2]

2002 Taipei City Mayoral Election Result
Party		#	Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic Progressive Party	1	Lee Ying-yuan	488,811	35.89%
	Kuomintang	2	Ma Ying-jeou	873,102	64.11%
Total				1,374,862	100.00%
Voter turnout				70.61%

He was reelected to the Legislative Yuan in 2012. During the summer of 2015, Lee accompanied DPP chairperson and 2016 presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen on her visit to the United States, along with DPP General Secretary Joseph Wu.

Private life

Lee is married to Ms. Laura Huang (黃月桂) and has two sons.

References

1. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/04/13/2003643829
2. "Lee is down but not out after defeat". The China Post (Taiwan (ROC)). December 8, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2011.