Tsai announces Academia Sinica VP as running mate

2015/11/18

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen announced Nov. 16 that she has chosen Chen Chien-jen, vice president of Taiwan’s foremost research body Academia Sinica, as her running mate in the 2016 ROC presidential election.

An epidemiologist and minister of health from 2003 to 2005, Chen rose to national fame for heading the campaign against the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Taiwan. He demonstrated extraordinary communication and coordination skills during the fight against the illness, according to Tsai.

“Chen’s calm leadership and willingness to take up the challenge helped restore confidence to a nation plagued by the disease,” she said during a media conference in Taipei City. “I have every reason to believe that he can lend invaluable assistance to my team with his exceptional experience and expertise.”

Describing the decision as in the best interests of Taiwan, Tsai praised Chen for being a master communicator in addition to an accomplished scholar. As a devout Catholic with no particular political affiliation, he is expected to help expand the reach of the DPP chairwoman’s campaign and win the support of independent voters.

Chen holds a Sc.D. in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. Starting his academic career by studying hepatitis B, he played an important role in promoting universal vaccination against the viral infection in Taiwan.

He was also minister of the National Science Council, now the Ministry of Science and Technology, from 2006 to 2008. After agreeing to serve as Tsai’s running mate, Chen tendered his resignation from all Academia Sinica posts the same day.

The Tsai-Chen pair will be up against the ruling Kuomintang’s Eric Chu and the People First Party’s James Soong in the January race. While neither of the other two candidates has revealed his running mate, Chu is expected to announce his choice in the coming days.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=239017&ctNode=2194&mp=9)