James Soong

Early life and service under Chiang Ching-kuo

James Soong was born on 16 March 1942; his father was from Hunan and had joined the army as a young man. He graduated in diplomacy from National Chengchi University and earned a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in political science from Georgetown University. After returning to Taiwan he served for many years as a secretary to Chiang Ching-kuo, then as a secretary at the Executive Yuan, director-general of the Government Information Office, director of the Kuomintang's cultural affairs department and deputy secretary-general of the party. A 1988 Global Views Monthly report said that on the eve of the US announcement in 1978 that it would break relations with Taiwan he rushed to Chiang's residence at night to wake him, and that he subsequently had more involvement in major decisions than other officials.

KMT secretary-general and governor of Taiwan

After Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Soong became secretary-general of the Kuomintang, and in 1993 he was appointed chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government. In Taiwan's first direct election for provincial governor in December 1994 he won about 4.7 million votes, becoming the first—and only—popularly elected governor of Taiwan Province. According to Mirror Media, he toured the countryside constantly, building roads, bridges and reservoirs, and enjoyed high approval ratings; when Lee Teng-hui decided in 1996 to “freeze” the province (streamlining the provincial tier of government), Soong angrily offered his resignation, and his relationship with Lee broke down.

Running outside the KMT and the People First Party

In March 2000, after failing to reach an accommodation with the Kuomintang, Soong left the party and ran as an independent with Chang Chau-hsiung. According to Mirror Media, his campaign was riding high when the “Hsing Piao bills scandal” broke in the final stretch. He finished second with 36.84 percent of the vote, losing to Chen Shui-bian by just over 300,000 votes; Taiwanese media widely believed his independent run split the Kuomintang vote. After the election he founded the People First Party and became its chairman. In 2004 he ran as Lien Chan's running mate on a joint KMT–PFP ticket and lost by fewer than 30,000 votes. He ran again for Taiwan's leadership as PFP chairman in 2012, 2016 and 2020, without success.

The 2005 mainland visit and the Hu–Soong meeting

From 5 to 13 May 2005 Soong led a People First Party delegation to the mainland at Hu Jintao's invitation—the first exchange between the Chinese Communist Party and the PFP. During the visit he met Wang Daohan, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, in Shanghai. On 12 May Hu and Soong held talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and the communiqué issued afterwards listed six points: resuming equal cross-strait negotiations quickly on the basis of the “1992 Consensus” (“both sides, one China”); firmly opposing “Taiwan independence,” including campaigns for “name rectification” and a new constitution by referendum; working to end the state of hostility and build a framework for peace; strengthening economic exchanges, with full, direct, two-way transport links to begin in 2006; consultations on Taiwan's participation in international activities, with priority for the World Health Organization; and a “cross-strait non-governmental elite forum” and services for Taiwanese businesspeople. The communiqué also reproduced the two semi-official bodies' separate 1992 oral formulations of “one China.”

Later years

After Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Soong was appointed a senior adviser to the presidential office and represented Taiwan's leader at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings in Lima, Peru, in 2016 and Da Nang, Vietnam, in 2017; Morris Chang took over the role from 2018. According to the Central News Agency, Beijing declined to say whether its delegation would interact with him.