Ma Ying-jeou

Ma Ying-jeou
馬英九
Official portrait, 2008
6th President of the Republic of China
In office 20 May 2008 – 20 May 2016
Premier	See list Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng
Vice President	Vincent Siew Wu Den-yih
Preceded by	Chen Shui-bian
Succeeded by	Tsai Ing-wen
4th and 6th Chairman of the Kuomintang
In office 17 October 2009 – 3 December 2014
Preceded by	Wu Po-hsiung
Succeeded by	Wu Den-yih (acting)
In office 27 July 2005 – 13 February 2007
Preceded by	Lien Chan
Succeeded by	Wu Po-hsiung (interim)
11th Mayor of Taipei
In office 25 December 1998 – 25 December 2006
Deputy	King Pu-tsung
Preceded by	Chen Shui-bian
Succeeded by	Hau Lung-pin
Minister of Justice
In office 27 February 1993 – 10 June 1996
Premier	Lien Chan
Preceded by	Lu Yu-wen
Succeeded by	Liao Cheng-hao
Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation
In office 27 July 1988 – 27 June 1991
Premier	Yu Kuo-hwa Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun
Deputy	Sun Te-hsiung
Preceded by	Wei Yung
Succeeded by	Sun Te-hsiung
Personal details
Born	(1950-07-13) 13 July 1950 (age 74) Kwong Wah Hospital, Yau Ma Tei, British Hong Kong
Political party	Kuomintang
Spouse	Christine Chow
Children	2
Education	National Taiwan University (LLB) New York University (LLM) Harvard University (SJD)
Military service
Allegiance	Republic of China
Branch/service	ROC Marine Corps ROC Navy [citation needed]
Years of service	1972–1974
Rank	Lieutenant

Ma Ying-jeou (Chinese: 馬英九; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician who served as the 6th president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as the 14th justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006. He served as chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2014.

Ma was born to a waishengren family in Hong Kong. After serving in the Taiwanese military between 1972 and 1974, he earned a doctorate in law from Harvard University. He returned to Taiwan in 1981, where he started working for President Chiang Ching-kuo, first working at the presidential office. He was later appointed as the chair of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, then being appointed as Minister of Justice in 1993 until being relieved of his post in 1996. In 1998, he ran against incumbent Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei mayoral elections, defeating Chen.

Ma was elected as the KMT chairman in 2005, until he resigned in 2007, when he announced his candidacy for the presidential elections of 2008. He was elected president, winning 58.45% of the popular vote and defeating DPP nominee Frank Hsieh. He was sworn into office as president on 20 May 2008, and was again sworn in as the Chairman of the Kuomintang on 17 October 2009.^[1] Ma's term as president saw warmer relations with mainland China, including the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010. He was re-elected in presidential elections 2012 with 51.6% of the vote, defeating DPP nominee Tsai Ing-wen. He resigned as chairman of Kuomintang on 3 December 2014 after poor performance by the party in local elections.^[2] In November 2015, Ma met with People's Republic of China paramount leader Xi Jinping in Singapore, the first time the leaders of People's Republic of China and Republic of China have met.