Name Liu Sung-pan | ||
Liu Sung-pan (traditional Chinese: 劉松藩; simplified Chinese: 刘松藩; 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. 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 legislative. 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. In 1998, during his tenure as legislative speaker, Liu used his status as the former chairman of Taichung Business Bank to broker a NT$1.5 billion loan to the Kuangsan Group, and in return he received a bribe of NT$150 million. During the subsequent investigation, Liu's house was raided.
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. 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. 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. Liu also backed the democratization of Myanmar and promoted United States–Taiwan relations.
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. 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. 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. Though Liu had relinquished his PFP membership a day after his resignation from the Legislative Yuan, the party offered to help him find medical treatment if he would serve his sentence in Taiwan. Liu never acknowledged the proposal, and was subsequently listed as a fugitive in February 2007. In the early 2010s, Liu was reported to have fled to China. Later, he returned to the United States, and died in Los Angeles on 18 November 2016, aged 84.