Chen Zau-nan (Chinese: 陳昭南; born 11 December 1942) is a Taiwanese politician.

Education and political activism

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Chen Zau-nan studied music at the Taiwan Provincial Taipei Normal College, music education at the National Taiwan University of Arts, and later attended the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.[1] He remained in Austria after completing his education, and was influenced by the nation's democracy, which led the Kuomintang one-party state in Taiwan to blacklist him from returning. After the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, Chen moved to the United States and began working for the American branch of Formosa Magazine. Upon his 1990 return to Taiwan, Chen was held in the Tucheng Detention Center. Political persecution of Chen ended in 1992, following revisions to the Punishment of Rebellion Act [zh] in 1991 and Article 100 [zh] of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China [zh] in 1992.[2]

Formal political activity

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After Mark Chen took office as Tainan County Magistrate, Chen Zau-nan assumed Mark Chen's party list Legislative Yuan seat in 1994. After completing Mark Chen's term in 1996, Chen Zau-nan was elected to a full term in his own right in 1998, via party list proportional representation.[3] During his second stint as legislator, Chen also served on the Democratic Progressive Party's Central Committee.[4] In 2001, Chen and fellow legislator Yang Chi-hsiung accused James Soong and his family of embezzlement, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion.[5] Later that year, Chang Chun-hung substantiated allegations of vote selling against Wang Hsien-tang, stating that he, Chen Zau-nan, and Liu Kun-li had witnessed Wang planning prior the Democratic Progressive Party legislative primaries.[6] Chen lost the party primary for a position on the Democratic Progressive Party list, and was instead named the Democratic Progressive candidate for the Kinmen County Magistracy in the 2001–02 Taiwanese local elections.[7] This was the first time that DPP had named a magisterial candidate for a county dominated by New Party supporters.[8] He lost to New Party candidate Lee Chu-feng.[9]

Political relationships and views

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Chen Zau-nan is close to Chang Chun-hung.[10] After Chen Shui-bian won the 2000 presidential election, Chen Zau-nan proposed removing Taiwan independence from the Democratic Progressive Party platform.[11] In June 2014, Chen and Julian Kuo formally petitioned for the party to consider freezing the first article of its charter, which discussed independence.[12][13] Opponents of the petition called for Chen and Kuo to resign their party membership.[14][15] Party chair Tsai Ing-wen sent the petition to the DPP Central Executive Committee for future discussion.[16][17]

Later political activity

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Prior to the 2018 Taiwanese local elections, Chen served as a mediator between the Social Democratic Party, Taiwan Radical Wings, and Green Party Taiwan, which decided to form an electoral coalition called the Social Welfare State Front.[18] Chen has written political columns disseminated by Newtalk [zh].[19][20]

References

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  1. ^ "陳昭南 (4)" (in Chinese). Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  2. ^ 邱, 祖胤. "首頁 / 文化 從黑名單到政治犯 陳昭南「台灣之危」關注民主" (in Chinese). Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Chen Zau-nan (4)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Taichung municipal officials defect to DPP en masse". Taipei Times. 12 November 2000. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  5. ^ Jou, Ying-cheng (21 January 2001). "Prosecutors not to pursue Soong". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  6. ^ Huang, Joyce (21 March 2001). "DPP targets its own for vote selling". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  7. ^ Huang, Joyce (6 June 2001). "DPP candidates get second go at voters". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  8. ^ Chiu, Yu-tzu (30 November 2001). "Dec. 1 elections: Candidates search far and wide for votes in Kinmen". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  9. ^ Tsai, Ting-i (2 December 2001). "KMT's Hu fills vacuum left by bickering". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  10. ^ Ko, Shu-ling (7 January 2002). "Battle for free speech lies behind Chang's angst". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Editorial: Time to wait for China's next move". Taipei Times. 16 July 2000. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  12. ^ Chen, Hui-ping; Chung, Jake (20 June 2014). "Ex-DPP legislator seeks independence clause's freezing". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  13. ^ "EDITORIAL: Freezing the independence clause". Taipei Times. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  14. ^ Wang, Chris (17 July 2014). "DPP mulls independence clause". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  15. ^ 李, 欣芳 (16 July 2014). "陳昭南要求凍獨 綠基層反對派要他退黨". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  16. ^ Wang, Chris (22 July 2014). "Initiators of independence clause hail Tsai's decision". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  17. ^ Hsieh, John (28 July 2014). "Independence is the future". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  18. ^ Maxon, Ann (20 July 2018). "Progressive coalition eyes council seats". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  19. ^ Chen, Zau-nan (13 January 2023). "陳昭南觀點》凝視台灣黨國與血緣交相混亂的症候群". Newtalk. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  20. ^ Chen, Zau-nan (19 May 2023). "陳昭南觀點》戴不了「發達國家」的帽子 卻整天想要侵犯台灣!" (in Chinese). Newtalk. Retrieved 18 December 2023.