George Hsieh Kuo-liang (Chinese: 謝國樑; pinyin: Xiè Guóliáng; Wade–Giles: Hsieh4 Kuo2-liang2; born 5 October 1975) is a Taiwanese politician. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 2005 to 2016, and has served as Mayor of Keelung since 25 December 2022.
Hsieh renounced US citizenship to contest the 2004 legislative election as a member of the People First Party.[3] 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.[4] The next year, Hsieh was named the co-chair of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.[5] 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.[6] 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choice to run for the mayoralty of Keelung City in 2014, after original candidate Huang Ching-tai's nomination had been withdrawn.[7] He repeatedly refused the mayoral nomination and campaigned for Hsieh Li-kung instead.[8][9] In February 2015, George Hsieh announced that he would not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]
