Ma Ying Jiu

Ma Ying-jiu was born in Hong Kong in 1950 . The son of a KMT soldier, he became in 1990 the Vice-Chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council. In 1995, he was appointed Minister of Justice. In 1997, Ma, citing disillusion with politics, left the cabinet to resume his teaching career as law professor but in December 1998, as the KMT candidate for mayor of Taipei, he won with 51 percent of the votes compared to 46 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate, incumbent Mayor Chen Shui-bian, now the President. In July 2001, the Harvard-educated Mayor was the top vote-getter in elections to the Nationalist Party's (KMT) Central Committee, highlighting his potential to emerge as the future leader of the party and the possible KMT candidate at the next presidential election.

see interview Spring 2001

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