Lin Chih-chien

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lin.

Lin Chih-chien^[1] (Chinese: 林智堅; pinyin: Lín Zhìjiān; Wade–Giles: Lin² Chih⁴-chien¹; born 27 May 1975) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the mayor of Hsinchu City from 25 December 2014 to 8 July 2022.

Lin Chih-chien
林智堅
Official portrait, 2014
7th Mayor of Hsinchu
In office 25 December 2014 – 8 July 2022
Deputy	Shen Hui-hong
Preceded by	Hsu Ming-tsai
Succeeded by	Chen Chang-hsien (acting) Ann Kao
Hsinchu City Councillor
In office 1 March 2010 – 25 December 2014
Constituency	Hsinchi I
Personal details
Born	27 May 1975 (1975-05-27) (age 50) Xiangshan, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Education	Chung Hua University (BA) (master's degree rescinded due to plagiarism) National Taiwan University (rescinded due to plagiarism)

Early life and education

Lin earned his bachelor's degree in business administration followed by a master's degree in technology management from Chung Hua University's College of Management in 2008.^[2][3] In 2017, he obtained a second master's degree from National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, where his thesis discussed the 2014 Hsinchu mayoral elections.^[4] Both master's degrees were rescinded by the respective institutions after investigations confirmed that Lin had plagiarized his theses for the two degrees.^[5][2][6]

Mayor of Hsinchu City

2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin was elected as the Mayor of Hsinchu City after narrowly winning the 2014 Hsinchu City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014.^[7]

2014 Hsinchu City Mayoralty Election Result
No.	Candidate	Party	Votes	Percentage
1	Liu Cheng-hsing (劉正幸)	Independent	1,914	0.96%
2	Hsu Ming-tsai	KMT	75,564	37.85%
3	James Tsai	Independent	40,480	20.28%
4	Lin Chih-chien	DPP	76,578	38.36%
5	Wu Shu-min (吳淑敏)	Independent	5101	2.56%

2018 Hsinchu City mayoralty election

Lin won reelection in 2018.^[8]

2018 Democratic Progressive Party Hsinchu City mayoral primary results
Candidates	Place	Result
Lin Chih-chien	Nominated	Walkover

2018 Hsinchu City mayoral results[9]
No.	Candidate	Party	Votes	Percentage
1	Hsieh Wen-chin (謝文進)	Independent	44,101	20.31%
2	Li Chi-qun (李驥羣)	Independent	705	0.32%
3	Huang Yuan-fu (黃源甫)	Independent	3,603	1.66%
4	Hsu Ming-tsai	Kuomintang	60,508	27.87%
5	Kuo Jung-jui (郭榮睿)	Independent	574	0.26%
6	Lin Chih-chien	Democratic Progressive Party	107,612	49.57%
Total voters			338,323
Valid votes			217,103
Invalid votes
Voter turnout			64.17%

Later political career

Lin in July 2020

Being term limited for the Hsinchu City mayoralty, Lin proposed consolidating Hsinchu City and County to form a special municipality, though he stated in December 2021 that he would not contest the mayoralty for this proposed entity during the 2022 local elections.^[10][11] In June 2022, he accepted the Democratic Progressive Party nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty.^[12][13] The following month, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei claimed that Lin had plagiarized a research paper cowritten by Lee Yu-cheng and Wang Ming-lang while completing his master's degree at Chung Hua University's College of Management. Lin's adviser Ho Li-hsing and researcher Wang Ming-lang both signed written statements that asserted Lin had been on Wang Ming-lang's research team. Lin's second master's degree, obtained at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, was called into question by political commentator Huang Yang-ming. Huang suggested that Lin had plagiarized from Yu Cheng-huang, while Lin and Chen Ming-tong, Lin's adviser at NTU, stated that Yu had utilized research material collected by Lin.^[2][14] National Taiwan University began an investigation [zh] into the allegations. The committee found that Lin plagiarized from Yu, and advised that Lin's master's degree be revoked ^[15][4] National Taiwan University duly revoked his master's degree on 9 August 2022.^[5] Lin withdrew his nomination for the Taoyuan mayoralty on 12 August 2022.^[16] After the conclusion of investigations, Chung Hua University also revoked his master's degree on 24 August 2022.^[6]