Liu Sung-pan (Chinese: 劉松藩; pinyin: Liú Sōngfán; Wade–Giles: Liú Sūng-fán; 3 December 1931 — 18 November 2016) was a Taiwanese politician. He served as the President of the Legislative Yuan from 1992 to 1999. He was the Legislative Yuan's first Taiwan-born speaker and presided over a legislature entirely elected by residents of the Taiwan Area (after the retirement of the elderly mainland representatives in December 1991).
Career
Liu founded a committee seeking Taiwan–United States relations in 1987. The group counted members of the US Congress and Legislative Yuan among its number.[1][2] He was elected to the speakership of the Legislative Yuan in January 1992. Upon his confirmation, Liu became the first native Taiwanese to lead the legislature.[3] He was also the first to head a parliament entirely elected by residents of the Taiwan Area, as the elderly mainland representatives retired en masse at the end of 1991.[4]
In 1998, during his tenure as legislative speaker, Liu used his status as the former chairman of Taichung Commercial Bank to broker a NT$1.5 billion loan to the Kuangsan Group, and in return he received a bribe of NT$150 million.[5] During the subsequent investigation, Liu's house was raided.[6][7]
He left the Kuomintang in 1999, after having served two full elected terms as President of the Yuan. Liu then allied himself with James Soong's independent 2000 presidential campaign.[8][9] After Soong's loss, Liu was named the leader of the New Taiwanese Service Team, an exploratory committee that preceded the formation of the People First Party.[10] After the end of Liu's speakership, he continued to lead Taiwan in negotiations with China and advocated for the nation to obtain membership in the World Health Organization.[11][12][13] Liu also backed the democratization of Myanmar and promoted United States–Taiwan relations.[14][15]
Trial and temporary disappearance
The Taichung District Court convicted Liu for his role in the Kuangsan Group scandal in July 2003, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and NT$30 million fine.[16][17] His final appeal was heard by the Taiwan High Court in September 2004. The THC handed Liu a four-year prison sentence and a NT$30 million fine. After the High Court's verdict was announced, Liu resigned his legislative seat.[18] At the time, Liu was at the Republican National Convention in the United States. While there, he suffered a heart attack and was not medically cleared to fly to Taiwan.[19] Though Liu had relinquished his PFP membership a day after his resignation from the Legislative Yuan,[20] the party offered to help him find medical treatment if he would serve his sentence in Taiwan.[21] Liu never acknowledged the proposal, and was subsequently listed as a fugitive in February 2007.[22] In the early 2010s, Liu was reported to have fled to China.[23][24][25] Later, he returned to the United States, and died in Los Angeles on 18 November 2016, aged 84.[26][27][28]
