Han Kuo-yu (born June 17, 1957) is a Taiwanese politician belonging to the Kuomintang (KMT) who has served as president, or speaker, of the Legislative Yuan since February 1, 2024. His career has included service in local government, three earlier legislative terms, management of Taipei’s agricultural-products marketing corporation, and the mayoralty of Kaohsiung. His official educational qualifications include degrees from Soochow University and National Chengchi University. (web.cec.gov.tw)
Han became nationally prominent through his victory in Kaohsiung’s 2018 mayoral election. He subsequently represented the KMT in the 2020 presidential election, losing to Tsai Ing-wen, and was removed from the mayoralty following a successful recall vote that June. His return to the legislature and election as its speaker in 2024 marked another major transition in a career encompassing municipal administration, national electoral politics, and parliamentary leadership in Taiwan. (taipeitimes.com)
Early life and education
Han Kuo-yu was born on June 17, 1957, in Taipei County, Taiwan. The county designation reflects the administrative geography of his birth: Taipei County was reorganized as New Taipei City on December 25, 2010. His early schooling included Banqiao Primary School, rendered “Panchiao Primary School” in his English-language legislative biography. That record also lists Tzu Yu High School, Hai Shan High School, and Heng Yee Catholic High School among the institutions he attended, without identifying a completed qualification at each school. (en.wikipedia.org)
His military education preceded his civilian university studies. Han trained at the Republic of China Military Academy, whose name appears as “Chinese Military Academy” in the Legislative Yuan’s historical biography. More specifically, he belonged to the fortieth class of its specialized officer-training program, known in Chinese as the zhuanxiu xuesheng ban (專修學生班). This training should be distinguished from his subsequently documented university degrees: the legislature’s educational record lists the military academy as an institution attended, whereas its later biography explicitly identifies his bachelor’s and master’s qualifications. (ly.gov.tw)
Han subsequently pursued civilian higher education at Soochow University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature. He then studied at the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies of National Chengchi University, earning a master’s degree formally designated in his legislative biography as a Master of Laws. The distinction between the degree’s formal designation and the institute’s subject area is significant: his recorded graduate qualification was in East Asian studies, rather than an undergraduate or professional law program. (ly.gov.tw)
His master’s thesis, published in 1988 and supervised by Su Chi, was entitled Examining the Two Airlines Negotiations through the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work toward Taiwan (從中共對台統戰看兩航談判). The National Central Library’s thesis catalogue identifies Han as its author and classifies the work under regional studies within the social and behavioral sciences. Its abstract describes an examination of united-front concepts and the development of the Chinese Communist Party’s strategies toward Taiwan, providing a concrete record of his graduate research interests. (ndltd.ncl.edu.tw)
Before entering national political office, Han’s employment included teaching, continuing-education administration, and newspaper writing. His historical legislative biography records lectureships at National Hualien Teachers College and the institution identified there as Shih Hsin University, together with service as director of the School of Continuing Education at Chinese Culture University. It also lists him as a writer for the China Times. These recorded positions identify distinct academic, administrative, and newspaper-related roles, rather than a single continuous career in either teaching or journalism. (ly.gov.tw)
Entry into elected politics, 1990–2002
Han entered elected office in 1990, winning a seat on the Taipei County Council representing Zhonghe, then a county-administered city. He took office on March 1, 1990, in the council’s twelfth term. This was a county-level representative position, not membership of the separate Taipei City Council or an executive appointment in Zhonghe. The council formed the deliberative branch of county government: its work included reviewing local budgets and proposals and questioning the county administration. Han served there until his transition to national parliamentary office in early 1993. (en.wikipedia.org)
Elected to the second Legislative Yuan in December 1992, Han began his first national term on February 1, 1993. He subsequently served in the third term, from February 1, 1996, to January 31, 1999, and the fourth, from February 1, 1999, to January 31, 2002—nine consecutive years altogether. His initial constituency was Taipei County; the legislature’s third- and fourth-term biographies identify his seat more specifically as Taipei County’s third electoral district. These were constituency mandates, rather than the nationwide party-list representation through which he would return much later. The contemporary legislative biographies record both his party affiliation and parliamentary grouping as Kuomintang (KMT). (en.wikipedia.org)
His fourth-term record lists assignments across several areas of parliamentary business. In the first session, in 1999, he belonged to the Budget and Final Accounts Committee. In the second session, he served on both the Procedure Committee and the Legislative Affairs Committee; in the sixth session, in 2001, he belonged to the Education and Culture Committee. These entries identify particular session assignments, rather than continuous membership of every committee throughout the term. They also distinguish his work on expenditure and accounts, parliamentary procedure, and education from the KMT caucus’s broader legislative program. (ly.gov.tw)
Han’s questioning included prison administration. A later official report reproducing legislative budget resolutions specifically recalled his 1996 question about insufficient staffing among prison correctional educators, whose responsibilities included inmate guidance and rehabilitation. This was an exercise of legislative scrutiny: raising the staffing problem did not itself create posts or establish an administrative remedy. The issue belonged to the legislature’s wider power to question the premier and ministry heads about government policy and administration. (mjac.moj.gov.tw)
Among his sponsored proposals was a draft ordinance on the establishment of tourist casinos, advanced with twenty other legislators in December 1994 and subsequently considered in committee in September 1996. The proposal sought a legal framework for regulated casino operations, presenting tourism development and additional public revenue as its purposes. An official government study later recorded Han’s argument that such facilities could attract overseas spending and retain expenditure otherwise made abroad; it also recorded that disagreement among participating legislators prevented a resolution during the discussion. The measure therefore illustrates a proposal associated with Han and fellow sponsors, not an enacted achievement or, merely by virtue of his membership, a settled KMT caucus position. (ntupoli.s3.amazonaws.com)
Agricultural marketing management and party organization
Han Kuo-yu served as general manager of the Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (TAPMC) from 2013 to 2017. The position placed him in the administration of a wholesale-market operator connecting agricultural suppliers across Taiwan with buyers serving metropolitan Taipei. The corporation operated the city’s First and Second Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets, established in 1974 and 1985 respectively. Its auction system brought produce supplied from around Taiwan into wholesale transactions before distribution to retail markets in the greater Taipei area. These distribution arrangements predated Han’s appointment. (en.wikipedia.org)
TAPMC’s institutional structure combined corporate management with public responsibilities. During the period surrounding Han’s departure, Taipei City Government and the central government’s Council of Agriculture each held 22.76 percent of its shares, giving public authorities a combined 45.52 percent interest. Other shareholders included farmers’ associations, a fruit-marketing cooperative, and agricultural-product traders. Public authorities therefore participated both as shareholders, appointing directors and supervising management through the board, and as regulators responsible for agricultural marketing. The corporation’s mandate encompassed orderly distribution, supply-and-demand adjustment, and fair trading, rather than simply maximizing commercial returns. (cy.gov.tw)
The relationship between management and public oversight became contentious near the end of Han’s tenure. In an investigation approved on January 11, 2018, the Control Yuan criticized the Council of Agriculture and Taipei City Government for inadequate supervision of TAPMC. It emphasized that the company had the character of a public utility under agricultural-market legislation, notwithstanding its corporate form, and questioned aspects of the arrangements for appointing public-share representatives and the general manager. The investigation concerned institutional oversight and personnel procedures; it did not establish that the corporation’s commercial results were attributable to Han individually. (cy.gov.tw)
On January 12, 2017, Han announced his candidacy for chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT). In his announcement, he also offered to contest difficult constituencies in Kaohsiung or Tainan in the 2018 local elections if the party lacked suitable candidates. He became one of six officially qualified contenders in the leadership election. Voting on May 20 placed him fourth, with 16,141 votes, reported as 5.84 percent. Former vice president Wu Den-yih won with 144,408 votes, ahead of incumbent chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu and former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin; Steve Chan and Pan Wei-kang finished behind Han. (cna.com.tw)
After the leadership contest, Han moved into the KMT’s Kaohsiung organization. In August 2017, party organization officials confirmed that Wu had discussed the local chairmanship with him following Huang Po-lin’s resignation. Han formally assumed the Kaohsiung chapter chairmanship at a September 7 installation ceremony, receiving his appointment from KMT vice chairman Tseng Yung-chuan. This was an internal party-organizational position, distinct from municipal government office, and preceded his nomination for the 2018 mayoral election. (cna.com.tw)
The 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral campaign
Han secured the Kuomintang (KMT) candidacy for mayor of Kaohsiung in May 2018, defeating legislator Chen Yi-min in the party primary while serving as head of its local organization. His principal opponent was Chen Chi-mai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP had governed the city for approximately twenty years, making Han’s campaign a challenge to an established municipal administration as well as a contest between individual candidates. Han presented a change of governing party as an opportunity to address what he described as economic decline and inadequate employment prospects. These were campaign arguments, rather than independently established descriptions of the DPP’s entire record. (news.pts.org.tw)
Economic opportunity dominated Han’s public message. At his October 26 rally in Fengshan, he argued that insufficient local employment forced young residents to leave their families and seek work elsewhere. His proposed remedy emphasized selling agricultural and fishery products outside the city while attracting tourists and investors. He promised that, if elected, he would personally accompany producers to seek orders in February 2019. The campaign compressed these objectives into a memorable formula linking outgoing goods, incoming visitors, and municipal prosperity. Such statements were electoral commitments: they did not establish that new orders, investment, or employment had already materialized. (cna.com.tw)
Large gatherings gave visible form to the enthusiasm described as the “Han wave,” or hanliu. Supporter associations organized a sequence of rallies in Fengshan, Qishan, and Gangshan. At the first, in Fengshan on October 26, organizers provided 15,000 plastic chairs; police estimated attendance at approximately 30,000, while organizers claimed more than 50,000. Supporters waved Republic of China flags and chanted for Han’s election, and former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng accompanied him into the venue. Han’s speech repeatedly addressed the people of Kaohsiung and portrayed the city as a sleeping giant whose industrial, agricultural, maritime, and airport resources could support renewed prosperity. (cna.com.tw)
Mobilization also used neighborhood appearances and a personalized campaign identity. Reporting from the Guomao community in Zuoying described residents waiting with small national flags as Han’s campaign vehicle passed through housing estates playing the military song “Night Attack.” At the final campaign event, hundreds of bald male volunteers appeared onstage in a visual reference to Han’s appearance. Interviews recorded supporters praising his conversational, straightforward speaking style and repeating his economic slogan. These observations document particular forms of participation and enthusiasm; they do not establish that all supporters shared the same political motivations. (twreporter.org)
In the November 24, 2018 election, Han received 892,545 votes, approximately 53.87 percent of valid ballots, against Chen Chi-mai’s 742,239 votes, approximately 44.80 percent. His winning margin was 150,306 votes. Turnout was approximately 73.54 percent, with 1,677,650 ballots cast by an electorate of 2,281,338. The victory ended roughly two decades of DPP control of the mayoralty. (taiwan-database.net)
Mayor of Kaohsiung
Han took office as mayor of Kaohsiung on December 25, 2018, at an inauguration held beside the Love River. His inaugural address emphasized economic development and bilingual education. As the elected head of a special municipality, he headed the city’s executive administration rather than its council. Article 55 of the Local Government Act assigned the mayor responsibility for administering municipal affairs and representing the municipality externally, with authority to appoint deputy mayors and most departmental heads, subject to statutory exceptions for designated personnel systems. The office carried a four-year elected term, with eligibility for one consecutive reelection. (news.pts.org.tw)
The administration’s early promotional documents placed economic growth, investment facilitation, and youth entrepreneurship among its priorities. The city’s 2019 English-language introductory brochure announced specialized services for investors and proposed a Youth Bureau and Youth Venture Fund to support new businesses. These announcements were not themselves evidence of investment secured or enterprises created. A subsequent municipal administrative report recorded a completed institutional change: the Youth Bureau was established on October 1, 2019, to coordinate resources, provide advice, and support entrepreneurship and startup incubation. The same introductory brochure promoted conventions and exhibitions as a means of generating demand for hotels, restaurants, and tourism services; its exhibition-industry figures referred to 2017, before Han’s administration, rather than results achieved during his mayoralty. (kcginfo.kcg.gov.tw)
Agricultural marketing and visitor promotion were linked through what municipal documents called “South-South Cooperation” and “Tourism Industrial Chain Development.” The Agriculture and Marine bureaus sought export markets in southern China for agricultural, fishery, and livestock products, while tourism promotion combined local tours, food, and wedding- and romance-related businesses. From March 22 to 28, 2019, Han led a municipal delegation through Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Xiamen. According to the city’s administrative report, the visit produced seven memoranda of understanding with a stated value of NT$1.32 billion and 23 contracts or agreements valued at NT$3.881 billion, covering agriculture, fisheries, medicine, and oil products. The combined NT$5.201 billion represented the stated value of signed instruments, not a documented total of delivered exports or realized municipal revenue. (orgws.kcg.gov.tw)
The itinerary also included meetings with senior officials. In Hong Kong on March 22, Han met Chief Executive Carrie Lam and subsequently Wang Zhimin, director of the central government’s Hong Kong Liaison Office; he also participated in an economic presentation and the signing of a cooperation memorandum with the Hong Kong Chinese Importers’ and Exporters’ Association. On March 25, he met Liu Jieyi, director of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in Shenzhen. These meetings accompanied the delegation’s commercial and city-exchange activities, although their cross-strait political implications became a separate subject of public debate. (news.pts.org.tw)
On October 15, 2019, Han announced that he would take leave beginning October 16 to concentrate on his presidential campaign, with the leave scheduled to continue through the January 11, 2020 election. Deputy Mayor Yeh Kuang-shih assumed the acting mayor’s responsibilities, including answering questions and attending budget deliberations at the city council. Yeh stated that he and the other deputy mayors would continue administering the city during Han’s absence. This arrangement temporarily transferred the performance of mayoral duties without ending Han’s tenure. Han returned to work at the city government on January 13, 2020. (news.pts.org.tw)
The 2020 presidential election
Han entered the 2020 presidential contest while serving as mayor of Kaohsiung, moving from municipal politics to a national campaign during his first year in office. The Kuomintang (KMT) selected its nominee through public-opinion polling conducted on July 8–14, 2019, rather than a ballot restricted to party members. Results announced on July 15 gave Han an aggregate support rating of 44.805 percent, ahead of businessman Terry Gou’s 27.730 percent and former New Taipei mayor Eric Chu’s 17.900 percent. These figures were nomination-poll scores, not shares of votes cast in an election. The KMT’s national congress formally approved Han’s nomination on July 28 at Banqiao Stadium in New Taipei. (cna.com.tw)
On November 11, Han announced former premier Chang San-cheng, also known as Simon Chang, as his vice-presidential running mate. Chang had already been coordinating Han’s national-policy advisory team. The pair registered their candidacy on November 18. They faced incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen and former premier Lai Ching-te, nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party, and the People First Party ticket of James Soong and advertising executive Yu Hsiang. The Central Election Commission assigned the Soong–Yu, Han–Chang, and Tsai–Lai tickets ballot numbers one, two, and three respectively. (kmt.org.tw)
Han’s national campaign used the slogan “Taiwan safe, people prosperous,” linking security with household economic well-being. A September 8 rally in New Taipei brought together Han, Chang, KMT chairman Wu Den-yih, former president Ma Ying-jeou, and legislative candidates. In education and youth policy, Han proposed eliminating interest payments on student loans through government subsidies paid to banks, rather than cancelling the principal borrowed. He also advocated assistance for students studying abroad as exchange students. These were proposals explicitly associated with his presidential candidacy in contemporary campaign statements, rather than measures already implemented by his Kaohsiung administration or provisions inferred from the KMT’s general program. (kmt.org.tw)
In energy policy, Han’s campaign proposed combining nuclear generation with renewable energy while progressively reducing coal-fired electricity. Its stated target for 2035 was a generation mix of 50 percent fossil fuels and 50 percent nuclear and renewable sources combined, accompanied by energy conservation and storage development. On August 22, 2019, Han publicly supported bringing the unfinished Fourth Nuclear Power Plant into operation subject to safety and public-consent conditions. These commitments concerned future national energy policy, not municipal authority over electricity generation. (kmt.org.tw)
Voting took place on January 11, 2020. Han and Chang finished second with 5,522,119 votes, or 38.61 percent of valid ballots. Tsai and Lai won with 8,170,231 votes, or 57.13 percent; Soong and Yu received 608,590 votes, or approximately 4.26 percent. The winning ticket’s margin over Han and Chang was 2,648,112 votes. The Central Election Commission recorded 19,311,105 eligible electors, 14,464,571 ballots cast, and turnout of 74.90 percent. (web.cec.gov.tw)
Recall and departure from the mayoralty
The campaign to remove Han developed after he entered the presidential contest in 2019, less than six months into his mayoralty. Its organizers, including WeCare Kaohsiung and Citizen Mowing Action, argued that his presidential candidacy had diverted attention from municipal responsibilities. They pursued a recall, a citizen-initiated procedure for ending an elected official’s tenure before its scheduled expiration. Unlike impeachment, the decision rested with constituency voters rather than an institutional adjudication of misconduct; unlike an ordinary mayoral election, the ballot asked whether to remove the incumbent, not which candidate should succeed him. (taipeitimes.com)
Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act applicable in 2020, a recall proposal could be submitted after an official had completed one year in office. The initial proposal required signatures from at least 1 percent of the constituency’s electorate; a second petition stage required signatures from at least 10 percent, collected within 60 days. The formal proposal against Han was submitted on December 26, 2019, following the first anniversary of his inauguration. Electoral officials verified 28,560 valid first-stage signatures, and the Central Election Commission (CEC) approved that stage on January 17, 2020. Organizers subsequently submitted 406,880 second-stage signatures on March 9; the city election commission accepted 377,662 as valid, exceeding the required 228,134. On April 17, the CEC certified the petition and scheduled voting for June 6. (taipeitimes.com)
Passage required two conditions simultaneously: valid votes supporting removal had to outnumber those opposing it, and supporting votes had to equal at least one-quarter of eligible voters in the constituency. The latter was a threshold for affirmative votes, not merely for turnout. With 2,299,981 eligible voters, the minimum was 574,996 votes supporting removal. On June 6, the proposal received 939,090 votes in favor and 25,051 against. Including 5,118 invalid ballots, 969,259 people voted, producing turnout of 42.14 percent. Supporting votes represented 97.40 percent of valid ballots and approximately 40.83 percent of the eligible electorate, satisfying both statutory conditions. The result made Han Taiwan’s first head of a special municipality to be recalled. (taipeitimes.com)
The successful ballot did not itself install a successor or immediately complete the administrative removal process. Han conceded defeat on June 6, but formal confirmation followed at the CEC’s 546th commission meeting on June 12. The commission approved and publicly announced the result that day, bringing his mayoral tenure to an end. The governing law also prohibited him from standing for the same office for four years after removal; this restriction did not amount to a general ban on holding elected office. (focustaiwan.tw)
Because more than two years remained in the mayoral term, the vacancy required a separate by-election within three months. On June 12, the Executive Yuan appointed veteran municipal official Yang Ming-jou as acting mayor; Yang took the oath on June 13. The CEC scheduled the by-election for August 15, separating the electorate’s decision to terminate Han’s mandate from the subsequent selection of a replacement. (cna.com.tw)
Stated cross-strait and constitutional positions
Han publicly supported the 1992 Consensus as a basis for engagement between Taiwan and mainland China. On March 25, 2019, during his meeting in Shenzhen with Liu Jieyi, director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, he described it as the “anchor of cross-Strait relations.” His endorsement concerned a political framework for maintaining relations across the Taiwan Strait, rather than an agreed settlement of the competing claims to sovereignty. Bonnie Glaser’s September 4, 2019 testimony to the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission recorded this statement as a significant expression of his position. (uscc.gov)
The formula’s meaning requires attribution. The Kuomintang interpreted it as “one China, respective interpretations,” with “China” referring, in its own interpretation, to the Republic of China. Beijing instead understood the consensus through its own one-China principle and did not acknowledge the KMT’s qualification concerning separate interpretations. The Democratic Progressive Party did not recognize the consensus. Although its name refers to exchanges in 1992, the term was coined by former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi in 2000. It is therefore a contested political formula, not an uncontested constitutional rule or a jointly accepted definition of Taiwan’s status. (cambridge.org)
Han separately and explicitly rejected “one country, two systems” as an arrangement for Taiwan. At a campaign rally in Douliu, Yunlin County, on June 15, 2019, he said that it could not be implemented in Taiwan and emphasized his opposition with the English phrase “over my dead body.” He also led supporters in a chant rejecting the formula and promised that, if elected president of the Republic of China, he would not permit its implementation in Taiwan. These statements distinguished his support for cross-strait engagement from acceptance of Beijing’s proposed framework for unification; they did not amount to a withdrawal of his support for the 1992 Consensus. (globalsecurity.org)
On October 10, 2019, speaking at a National Day flag-raising ceremony in Kaohsiung, Han promised to protect freedom and democracy and promote cross-strait peace and stability if elected president. The KMT’s account of the address, published on October 14, also recorded his stated priorities of putting Taiwan first, safeguarding democratic freedoms, and developing Chinese culture. These were campaign commitments, rather than findings about the consequences of his proposed policies. Radio Taiwan International separately reported the party’s National Day declaration that the Republic of China possessed its own national name, flag, armed forces, and laws, alongside its rejection of both Taiwan independence and “one country, two systems.” That institutional declaration was the party’s position; Han’s reported remarks at the ceremony specifically concerned democratic freedoms and peaceful cross-strait development. (dtenday.rti.org.tw)
Return to the Legislative Yuan and election as speaker
Han Kuo-yu returned to the Legislative Yuan through the Kuomintang (KMT)’s nationwide party list, rather than a geographical constituency. His official legislative record identifies his constituency as nationwide representation and citizens residing overseas, and gives February 1, 2024, as the beginning of his service in the eleventh legislature. This route differed from his earlier service in the second, third, and fourth legislative terms. Under Taiwan’s electoral system, 34 of the legislature’s 113 seats are allocated proportionally to parties receiving at least 5 percent of the nationwide party vote. Han therefore entered the chamber as a KMT legislator-at-large before participating in its separate election of presiding officers. (ly.gov.tw)
The new chamber contained 52 KMT legislators, 51 from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), eight from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), and two independents. No party held an absolute majority, making the smaller groups consequential in the speakership contest. The KMT supported Han, while the DPP backed incumbent speaker You Si-kun; the TPP nominated its own legislator-at-large, Huang Shan-shan, also known as Vivian Huang. All 113 legislators registered on February 1 and attended the legislative swearing-in ceremony that morning, before the election for speaker began at 10:30 a.m. (taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw)
In the first ballot, Han received 54 votes and You received 51. The TPP’s eight members attempted to vote for Huang, but one ballot, cast by Chen Chao-tzu, also known as Janice Chen, was invalidated because an ink smear made it appear to name two candidates; Huang consequently received seven valid votes. With no candidate obtaining a majority, Han and You advanced to a runoff. The eight TPP legislators did not participate in that second ballot. Han won by 54 votes to 51, with the two independents supporting him alongside the KMT legislators. His election thus did not involve TPP members casting affirmative votes for him in the decisive round. (taipeitimes.com)
Johnny Chiang, also known as Chiang Chi-chen, was subsequently elected deputy speaker. His contest likewise required two rounds: the TPP supported Chang Chi-kai in the first ballot and stayed out of the runoff, in which Chiang defeated the DPP’s Tsai Chi-chang by 54–51. Han and Chiang took their oaths as the legislature’s new presiding officers at 5:35 p.m. that day, witnessed by Grand Justice Yang Hui-chin. (taipeitimes.com)
The office Han assumed is formally titled president of the Legislative Yuan, commonly rendered in English as “speaker.” Article 66 of the Constitution provides that the legislature’s president and vice president are elected by and from among its members. These parliamentary offices are distinct from the presidency and vice presidency of the Republic of China: Han’s election made him the legislature’s presiding officer, not the head of state. (english.president.gov.tw)
Parliamentary leadership and international engagement
As speaker from February 1, 2024, Han Kuo-yu assumed responsibility for presiding over sittings of the Legislative Yuan and supervising its administration. The office’s administrative responsibilities include appointing the secretary-general, who manages parliamentary affairs and oversees staff; the deputy speaker acts when the speaker cannot perform his duties. These responsibilities concern the operation of the legislature, rather than direction of executive ministries. The constitutional distinction is explicit: the Executive Yuan is the highest administrative organ, while the Legislative Yuan exercises legislative powers. Representing the legislature internationally likewise differs from the constitutional role of the president of the Republic of China, who represents the state in foreign relations. (ly.gov.tw)
Facilitating discussion among party caucuses is another practical component of parliamentary leadership. Caucus negotiations help determine parliamentary business, including the opening date of each legislative session. A recorded example of Han exercising this convening role occurred on February 24, 2026, when he chaired interparty consultations concerning an invitation for President Lai Ching-te to deliver a report on national affairs to the legislature. Convening such discussions provides a forum for negotiating procedure; it does not itself settle the participating parties’ positions or substitute for parliamentary decisions. (ly.gov.tw)
In his inaugural address on February 1, 2024, Han said he wanted the chamber to become a place where parties could discuss policy rationally instead of resolving disputes through violence or extreme reactions. He also pledged to uphold neutrality and respect the rights of the smaller opposition party. Addressing the chamber’s 113 legislators, he emphasized the international attention directed toward Taiwan’s democracy. These statements set out his declared objectives for chairing proceedings, rather than establishing that subsequent deliberations consistently met those objectives. (taipeitimes.com)
In June 2026, Han led a delegation representing Taiwan’s three major parties to Washington, presenting the visit as an opportunity to congratulate the United States on its 250th anniversary. On June 24, the delegation visited the Senate and attended a reception at the Longworth House Office Building organized by Taiwan’s representative office. The reception brought together 33 House members from both American parties, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Taiwan Caucus co-chairs Ami Bera and Greg Stanton, and former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul. The delegation included Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Kuan-ting alongside members of Han’s Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party. (focustaiwan.tw)
At the reception, Han asked American lawmakers to support Taiwan’s participation in INTERPOL and the International Civil Aviation Organization. He contrasted Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, health-insurance system and democratic development with its limited diplomatic recognition and international participation. His appeal framed access to these organizations as a priority for congressional support; it was an advocacy statement, not an announcement that either organization had changed Taiwan’s status. (focustaiwan.tw)
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