Ma Ying-jeou

Ma Ying-jeou (Chinese: 馬英九; pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ; Ma-ING-gee-oh; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he was previously the mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006 and the chairman of the Kuomintang for two terms (2005–2007; 2009–2014).

Ma was born in British Hong Kong to a prominent waishengren family. After graduating from National Taiwan University in 1972, he served in the Republic of China Marine Corps and attained the rank of lieutenant. He then studied law in the United States, earning a master's degree from New York University in 1976 and his doctorate from Harvard University in 1981, both in international law.

Ma began his political career as a bureau director and English translator for President Chiang Ching-kuo. From 1988 to 1996, he held office first as chair of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, becoming the youngest cabinet member at age 38, and then as head of the Ministry of Justice, where he launched anti-corruption and anti-drug campaigns. In the 1998 Taipei mayoral election, he successfully ran against incumbent Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). During his mayoralty, he was elected as KMT chairman in 2005 and announced his candidacy in the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election, eventually defeating DPP nominee Frank Hsieh in a landslide majority.

Ma's presidency was defined by closer cross-strait relations with mainland China. He initiated a series of cross-strait summits (2008–2015), was elected again as party chairman in 2009, and signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 2010. After defeating Tsai Ing-wen and being reelected in 2012, his second term saw the September 2013 power struggle and the Sunflower Student Movement protests damage party reputation in the 2014 elections, leading to his resignation as KMT chair. Subsequently, he attended the 2015 Ma–Xi meeting in Singapore, marking the first meeting between the leaders of the PRC and ROC since the Chinese Civil War. After leaving the presidency in 2016, Ma became a law professor at Soochow University and has remained active in KMT politics. He met with Xi Jinping again in 2024.