Tsai Ching-hsiang

In this Chinese name, the family name is Tsai.

Tsai Ching-hsiang (Chinese: 蔡清祥; pinyin: Cài Qīngxiáng; born January 15, 1953) is a Taiwanese politician and lawyer. He has served as the Minister of Justice since 2018.

Tsai Ching-hsiang
蔡清祥
15th Minister of Justice
In office 16 July 2018 – 20 May 2024
Prime Minister	William Lai Su Tseng-chang Chen Chien-jen
Deputy	Tsai Pi-chung Chen Ming-tang
Preceded by	Chiu Tai-san
Succeeded by	Cheng Ming-chien
Director-General of the Investigation Bureau
In office 5 August 2016 – 15 July 2018
MOJ Minister	Chiu Tai-san
Preceded by	Joey Chung-I Wang
Succeeded by	Lin Lin-lan
Personal details
Born	(1953-01-15) January 15, 1953 (age 72)
Political party	Independent
Education	Soochow University (LLB) Chinese Culture University (LLM) National Taiwan University (MBA)

Before his ministerial career, he also served as the Director-General of the Investigation Bureau and the President of the Academy for the Judiciary of the Ministry of Justice. He is also known by the English name Shawn Tsai.^[1]

Education

Tsai earned a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Soochow University and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Chinese Culture University. After receiving his master's degree, he was a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School. He later earned an executive Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from National Taiwan University.^[2]

Career

Tsai served as head prosecutor in Kinmen and Miaoli,^[3] before taking office as the prosecutor-general of Keelung.^[4] He later led the Department of Prosecutorial Affairs at the Ministry of Justice. In this role, Tsai facilitated the extradition of Gerhard Dieter Rockmann to Germany and Wang You-theng from the United States.^[5][6] In mid-2007, Tsai was named head prosecutor of the Shilin District Prosecutors' Office.^[7] After leaving Shilin, Tsai served as lead prosecutor in Taoyuan and chief secretary of the justice ministry,^[3][8] followed by a stint as principal of the Judges Academy [zh].^[9] He was subsequently named to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in July 2016.^[9] In 2016, Tsai was appointed director general of the Investigation Bureau.^[10][11][12] As bureau leader, Tsai investigated environmental damage and was especially known for leading drug busts.^[13][14] Tsai was respected for his high standards, efficiency, and personal leadership style.^[15] He was also known for his close relationship with William Lai.^[16]

Minister of Justice

Tsai was appointed Minister of Justice in July 2018, succeeding Chiu Tai-san.^[17][18] Tsai was formally sworn in on 16 July 2018.^[19]

On 31 August 2018, Tsai Ching-hsiang ordered the execution of convicted murderer Lee Hung-chi.^[20] Lee's death was the first execution carried out by the Tsai Ing-wen administration.^[21]