George Hsieh

Hsieh Kuo-liang (Chinese: 謝國樑; pinyin: Xiè Guóliáng; Wade–Giles: Hsieh⁴ Kuo²-liang²; born 5 October 1975), also known by his English name George Hsieh, is a Taiwanese politician and media proprietor. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 2005 to 2016, and has served as Mayor of Keelung since 25 December 2022.

Hsieh Kuo-liang
謝國樑
Official portrait, 2022
11th Mayor of Keelung
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 December 2022
Deputy	Chiu Pei-lin
Preceded by	Lin Yu-chang
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office 1 February 2005 – 1 February 2016
Succeeded by	Tsai Shih-ying
Constituency	Keelung
Personal details
Born	(1975-10-05) 5 October 1975 (age 49) Keelung, Taiwan
Political party	Kuomintang (since 2006) People First Party (until 2006)
Spouse	Veronica Kuo
Education	University of Southern California (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS) National Chengchi University (MA)

Education and early career

Hsieh was educated in the United States. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in social science from the University of Southern California in 2001, he studied technology management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned a Master of Science (M.S.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2003.^[1] His master's thesis was titled, "VC's Decision Factor in Semiconductor Investment."^[2] He later also completed a master's degree in Taiwan from National Chengchi University as part of a specialized graduate program.

After receiving his master's degree, Hsieh worked for The China Post and founded Hualien Media International.^[3]

Entry into politics

Hsieh renounced US citizenship to contest the 2004 legislative election as a member of the People First Party.^[4] He joined the Kuomintang in 2006, and represented Keelung in the Legislative Yuan until 2016. In 2009, he proposed an amendment to the Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Act that would make it legal for elected officials to examine personal records without informing the individual subject to investigation.^[5] The next year, Hsieh was named the co-chair of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.^[6] In 2013, Next Magazine reported that he and a small group of legislators had been subject to wiretapping by the Ministry of Justice since 2011.^[7] Hsieh was the party's top choice to run for the mayoralty of Keelung City in 2014, after original candidate Huang Ching-tai's nomination had been withdrawn.^[8] He repeatedly refused the mayoral nomination and campaigned for Hsieh Li-kung instead.^[9][4] In February 2015, George Hsieh announced that he would not seek reelection, because his party had been soundly defeated in the November 2014 local elections.^[10]

Keelung mayoralty

In May 2022, the Kuomintang nominated Hsieh as its candidate for the Keelung mayoralty in the local elections.^[11] Hsieh defeated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate and legislator Tsai Shih-ying [zh].^[12]

A CommonWealth Magazine published survey results in September 2023 ranking Hsieh at No. 21 of 22 of major mayors and magistrates in terms of approval ratings. A DPP city councillor attributed Hsieh’s low approval ratings to his breaking of campaign promises, including COVID-19 pandemic related subsidies.^[13]

In June 2024, a campaign to recall Hsieh garnered 36,000 signatures and exceeded the threshold needed to initiate a recall vote.^[14] The campaign organizers submitted the petition with 40,000 signatures on 5 July.^[15] The Central Election Commission certified 36,909 of 43,137 submitted signatures in August, and scheduled the recall election for 13 October.^[16][17] The Keelung City Election Commission later announced that 283 polling stations would be set up for the election.^[18][19] With all polling stations reporting, 86,014 voted for Hsieh to remain in office, and 69,934 for his recall. In all seven districts of Keelung, a majority of voters rejected the recall of Hsieh.^[20][21]