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Tsai Pi-ru

Tsai Pi-ru
MLY
蔡壁如
Official portrait, 2020
Government Consultant of Taichung
In office
15 February 2024 – 26 December 2024
MayorLu Shiow-yen
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 2020 – 17 October 2022
Succeeded byCynthia Wu
ConstituencyParty-list
Personal details
Born (1964-03-11) 11 March 1964 (age 60)
Pingtung County, Taiwan
Political partyTaiwan People's Party
EducationMeiho University (BA)
Tamkang University (MA, rescinded)

Tsai Pi-ru (Chinese: 蔡壁如; pinyin: Cài Bìrú; born 11 March 1964) is a Taiwanese politician. She was a nurse and colleague of Ko Wen-je at National Taiwan University Hospital. After Ko was elected Mayor of Taipei in 2014, Tsai began her political career as Ko's chief of staff. In 2019, she became a founding member of the Taiwan People's Party led by Ko, and was elected to the 10th Legislative Yuan via party list proportional representation in 2020. Tsai resigned her legislative seat in 2022, and was replaced by Cynthia Wu.

Early life, education, and career

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Tsai was born on 11 March 1964 in Pingtung County.[1] She graduated from Meiho University with a degree in midwifery.[1] Tsai also attended Tamkang University's Management Information System Department on a part-time basis, completing a master's degree in 2019.[2] Tamkang revoked Tsai's degree in 2022.[2] Before pursuing politics, Tsai worked as a nurse at National Taiwan University Hospital,[3] including over twenty years alongside surgeon Ko Wen-je.[4]

Political career

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After Ko Wen-je was elected mayor of Taipei, Tsai joined his administration as chief of staff.[5] She became an adviser to the Taipei City Government in 2018.[4] Tsai is a founding member of the Taiwan People's Party, established in August 2019.[6] During the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election cycle, Tsai commented on the TPP party list, but did not confirm her own placement on it.[7][8] Eventually, Tsai ranked fifth on the party list and was seated to the 10th Legislative Yuan.[9][10] In August 2022, Wang Hao-yu accused Tsai of plagiarizing her master's thesis.[11] Tamkang University concluded an investigation into the allegations in October and revoked her degree.[2] She posted a resignation letter to Facebook on 14 October 2022, and vacated her legislative seat on 17 October.[12]

Tsai was nominated by the Taiwan People's Party for the Taichung City Constituency I seat held by Tsai Chi-chang in the 2024 legislative election. Her legislative campaign was also supported by the Kuomintang.[13] After Tsai Pi-ru lost the election,[14] she was appointed an advisor to Mayor of Taichung Lu Shiow-yen, and resigned the position in December 2024 to run for the TPP central committee.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b "5號 蔡壁如". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Chen, Chih-chung; Kuo, Chien-sheng; Kao, Evelyn. "TPP lawmaker's master's degree revoked for academic ethics violation". Central News Agency. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Tsai Pi-ru (10)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b Lee, I-chia (4 January 2018). "Spokesman denies Ko sacked chief of staff to please DPP". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  5. ^ Gerber, Abraham (30 January 2015). "Mayor's office confirms death threat". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  6. ^ Lee, I-chia (7 August 2019). "Ko elected chairman at TPP founding". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  7. ^ Shen, Pei-yao (24 October 2019). "TPP shortlists 43 applicants for at-large nominees". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. ^ Lee, I-chia (23 September 2019). "TPP names nominees for legislative elections". Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  9. ^ "2020 Elections: Taipei labor chief tops TPP legislator-at-large list". Central News Agency. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  10. ^ Lee, I-chia (20 November 2019). "JAN. 11 ELECTIONS: TPP unveils legislator-at-large list with 29 names". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  11. ^ Lee, I-chia (17 August 2022). "TPP lawmaker denies plagiarism accusation". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  12. ^ Kuo, Chien-shen; Ko, Lin (14 October 2022). "Tsai Pi-ru of Taiwan People's Party resigns as lawmaker". Central News Agency. Retrieved 15 October 2022. Republished as: Wang, Chien-hao; Hetherington, William (15 October 2022). "TPP's Tsai Pi-ru resigns despite denying plagiarism". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  13. ^ Liu, Kay (3 December 2023). "ELECTION 2024/Scenes from the campaign trail: A busy Sunday for main political parties". Central News Agency. Retrieved 4 December 2023. Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was in Taichung on Sunday morning to campaign for the party's former At-Large Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) in the city's first electoral district, where she faces Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) of the DPP. Tsai Pi-ru is also backed by the KMT, which did not nominate a candidate for the electoral district.
  14. ^ Liu, Tzu-hsuan. "KMT wins 52 legislative seats, DPP bags 51 and TPP eight". Taipei Times. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  15. ^ Garcia, Sam (23 December 2024). "Tsai Pi-ju to run for TPP central committee". Taipei Times. Retrieved 24 December 2024.