Tsai Pi-ru explained

Tsai Pi-ru
Native Name Lang:zh-tw
Honorific-Suffix:MLY
Office1:Government Consultant of Taichung
Term Start1:15 February 2024
1Blankname1:Mayor
1Namedata1:Lu Shiow-yen
Office2:Member of the Legislative Yuan
Term Start2:1 February 2020
Term End2:17 October 2022
Successor2:Cynthia Wu
Constituency2:Party-list
Birth Date:1964 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Pingtung County, Taiwan
Alma Mater:Meiho University
Tamkang University (rescinded)
Nationality:Taiwanese
Party:Taiwan People's Party

Tsai Pi-ru (; born 11 March 1964) is a Taiwanese politician. She was a nurse and colleague of Ko Wen-je at National Taiwan University Hospital. After Ko was elected Mayor of Taipei in 2014, Tsai began her political career as Ko's chief of staff. In 2019, she became a founding member of the Taiwan People's Party led by Ko, and was elected to the 10th Legislative Yuan via party list proportional representation in 2020. Tsai resigned her legislative seat in 2022, and was replaced by Cynthia Wu.

Early life, education, and career

Tsai was born on 11 March 1964 in Pingtung County.[1] She graduated from Meiho University with a degree in midwifery.[1] Tsai also attended Tamkang University's Management Information System Department on a part-time basis, completing a master's degree in 2019.[2] Tamkang revoked Tsai's degree in 2022.[2] Before pursuing politics, Tsai worked as a nurse at National Taiwan University Hospital,[3] including over twenty years alongside surgeon Ko Wen-je.[4]

Political career

After Ko Wen-je was elected mayor of Taipei, Tsai joined his administration as chief of staff.[5] She became an adviser to the Taipei City Government in 2018.[4] Tsai is a founding member of the Taiwan People's Party, established in August 2019.[6] During the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election cycle, Tsai commented on the TPP party list, but did not confirm her own placement on it.[7] [8] Eventually, Tsai ranked fifth on the party list and was seated to the 10th Legislative Yuan.[9] [10] In August 2022, Wang Hao-yu accused Tsai of plagiarizing her master's thesis.[11] Tamkang University concluded an investigation into the allegations in October and revoked her degree.[2] She posted a resignation letter to Facebook on 14 October 2022, and vacated her legislative seat on 17 October.[12]

Tsai was nominated by the Taiwan People's Party for the Taichung City Constituency I seat held by Tsai Chi-chang in the 2024 legislative election. Her legislative campaign was also supported by the Kuomintang.[13] Tsai Pi-ru lost the election.[14]

Notes and References

  1. News: 5號 蔡壁如 . 15 October 2022 . Liberty Times . zh.
  2. News: Chen . Chih-chung . Kuo . Chien-sheng . Kao . Evelyn . TPP lawmaker's master's degree revoked for academic ethics violation . 15 October 2022 . Central News Agency.
  3. News: Tsai Pi-ru (10) . Legislative Yuan . 15 October 2022.
  4. News: Lee . I-chia . Spokesman denies Ko sacked chief of staff to please DPP . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 4 January 2018.
  5. News: Gerber . Abraham . Mayor's office confirms death threat . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 30 January 2015.
  6. News: Lee . I-chia . Ko elected chairman at TPP founding . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 7 August 2019.
  7. News: Shen . Pei-yao . TPP shortlists 43 applicants for at-large nominees . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 24 October 2019.
  8. News: Lee . I-chia . TPP names nominees for legislative elections . 15 October 2022 . 23 September 2019.
  9. News: 2020 Elections: Taipei labor chief tops TPP legislator-at-large list . 15 October 2022 . Central News Agency . 19 November 2019.
  10. News: Lee . I-chia . JAN. 11 ELECTIONS: TPP unveils legislator-at-large list with 29 names . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 20 November 2019.
  11. News: Lee . I-chia . TPP lawmaker denies plagiarism accusation . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 17 August 2022.
  12. News: Kuo . Chien-shen . Ko . Lin . Tsai Pi-ru of Taiwan People's Party resigns as lawmaker . 15 October 2022 . Central News Agency . 14 October 2022. Republished as: News: Wang . Chien-hao . Hetherington . William . TPP's Tsai Pi-ru resigns despite denying plagiarism . 15 October 2022 . Taipei Times . 15 October 2022.
  13. News: Liu . Kay . ELECTION 2024/Scenes from the campaign trail: A busy Sunday for main political parties . 4 December 2023 . Central News Agency . 3 December 2023 . Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was in Taichung on Sunday morning to campaign for the party's former At-Large Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) in the city's first electoral district, where she faces Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) of the DPP. Tsai Pi-ru is also backed by the KMT, which did not nominate a candidate for the electoral district..
  14. News: Liu . Tzu-hsuan . KMT wins 52 legislative seats, DPP bags 51 and TPP eight . 13 January 2024 . Taipei Times.