Cynthia Wu
MLY
吳欣盈
Member of the Legislative Yuan
Assumed office
2 November 2022
Preceded byTsai Pi-ru
ConstituencyParty-list
Personal details
Born (1978-05-18) 18 May 1978
United States
CitizenshipTaiwan
United States (1978–2014)
Political partyTaiwan People's Party
Spouse(s)
Tommy Lin
​
​
(m. 2010; div. 2019)​

Renaud van der Elst
​
(m. 2022)​
Children1
RelativesEugene Wu (father)
Hsu Sheng-fa (grandfather)
Thomas Wu, Eric Wu (uncles)
EducationWellesley College (BA)
Courtauld Institute of Art (MA)

Cynthia Wu (Chinese: 吳欣盈; pinyin: Wú Xīnyíng; also Wu Hsin-ying;[1] born 18 May 1978) is a Taiwanese business executive and politician. She worked for subsidiaries of Merrill Lynch in the United Kingdom and the Shin Kong Group in Taiwan before she was appointed to the Legislative Yuan in 2022.

She was the vice presidential nominee of the Taiwan People's Party in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election as Ko Wen-je's running mate.

Early life and education

Cynthia Wu was born in the United States on 18 May 1978. She is the eldest daughter of Eugene Wu and his wife Hsu Hsien-hsien.[2] Her maternal grandfather is banker and politician Hsu Sheng-fa.[3] Her uncles Eric and Thomas Wu are also business executives, and Eric Wu had previously served on the Legislative Yuan. Cynthia Wu's younger sister is Wu Hsin-ju,[4][5] and her younger brother is Wu Yi-tung.[6][7] She attended Taipei American School, Wellesley College and The Courtauld Institute of Art.[8]

Career

While living in the United Kingdom, Wu worked for Merrill Lynch in London.[1] While residing in the UK, Cynthia Wu was an assistant to Conservative Party politician Peter Lilley.[1] She held dual US and Taiwanese citizenships, but renounced her US citizenship in 2014.[9]

After returning to Taiwan, Wu was an executive at Shin Kong Life Insurance, a division of the Shin Kong Group, which was founded by her paternal grandfather Wu Ho-su.[10]

Wu was ranked seventh on the Taiwan People's Party list prior to the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election.[11] After the resignation of Tsai Pi-ru, Wu was appointed to the 10th Legislative Yuan on 2 November 2022.[12]

On 24 November 2023, Taiwan People's Party chairman Ko Wen-je named Wu as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.[13] Despite controversy regarding her citizenship, on December 4, all presidential and vice-presidential candidates were found and declared eligible to run for election, including Cynthia Wu.[14]

Personal life

Cynthia Wu married Tommy Lin, an executive at Hua Nan Securities and a descendant of Lin Ben Yuan Family, in 2010.[15] In September 2013, Wu noticed that Lin, who suspected her of infidelity, had installed a GPS tracking unit in her car, and subsequently filed for divorce.[16][17] Lin was acquitted in the first ruling, and the divorce was not granted.[18][19] Although a second ruling in 2019 granted the divorce, Wu stated that the decision would deny her the experience of motherhood, as embryos that had been artificially inseminated during her marriage to Lin would be destroyed.[20]

Wu married Belgian baron Renaud van der Elst in 2022,[21][22][23][24] and she gave birth to their son on 9 February 2023.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Wu Hsin-ying (10)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Hsu, Crystal (19 August 2014). "School system drives up prices of Taipei studios". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Chung, Amber (12 May 2007). "Cosmos Bank says local and overseas investors secured". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  4. ↑ 陳瑩欣 (3 July 2017). "吳欣盈豪爽強勢 吳欣儒低調沉穩". Apple Daily (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on 2022-10-19. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  5. ↑ 盧冠誠 (7 July 2017). "二公主接董事 2個女人無戰事". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. ↑ 蔡靜紋 (18 August 2009). "新光少東吳昕東：30歲 再回去接班". United Daily News (in Chinese). Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. ↑ 廖千瑩 (28 May 2018). "新光三代 吳東賢家族接班最快". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "7號 吳欣盈". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  9. ↑ Internal Revenue Service (5 February 2014), "Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen To Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G", Federal Register
  10. ↑ Lee, I-chia (19 November 2019). "2020 Elections: Ko making an 'atomic bomb' to shake politics". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  11. ↑ Lee, I-chia (20 November 2019). "Jan. 11 Elections: TPP unveils legislator-at-large list with 29 names". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  12. ↑ Wang, Chien-hao; Hetherington, William (15 October 2022). "TPP's Tsai Pi-ru resigns despite denying plagiarism". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  13. ↑ Lin, Sean (24 November 2023). "Election 2024/TPP's Ko registers presidential candidacy, names lawmaker Wu as running mate". Central News Agency. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  14. ↑ Chen Chun-hua, Evelyn Kao (2023-12-04). "Election 2024/Three presidential candidate duos all eligible for 2024 election: MOI". Focus Taiwan.
  15. ↑ Huang, Ching-Hsuan; Chang, Hsiang-Yi (16 December 2010). "The Grand Families of Taiwan". CommonWealth. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  16. ↑ 廖, 千瑩 (30 January 2019). "王子GPS監控公主今開2審審理庭 吳欣盈：盼公允判決". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  17. ↑ 楊, 國文; 陳, 梅英 (9 January 2019). "華南王子、新光公主豪門離婚案 高院逆轉判准". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  18. ↑ 廖, 千瑩 (9 January 2019). "華南王子、新光公主豪門離婚案 新光金：私領域不回應". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  19. ↑ 廖, 千瑩 (30 January 2019). "華南王子涉跟蹤新光公主2審開庭 吳欣盈委任律師：回歸法律認定". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  20. ↑ 廖, 千瑩 (9 January 2022). "高院逆轉判離婚 吳欣盈：冰冷判決剝奪我做母親的權利". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  21. ↑ Louise Vandezande (9 September 2023). "Mariage à Oostkerke" (in French). L'Éventail. Retrieved 26 November 2023. ...célébré le mariage du baron Renaud van der Elst et de Cynthia Wu...grande réception au château d'Oostkerke, en présence de Sa Majesté la reine Mathilde.
  22. ↑ "Telg uit adellijke familie van der Elst stapt in huwelijksbootje" (in Dutch). KW Thuis in West-Vlaanderen. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  23. ↑ 江欣彥. "柯文哲選吳欣盈，真的｢無心贏｣嗎？" (in Traditional Chinese). Newtalk Taiwan. Retrieved 2023-12-02. ...柯文哲選擇了吳欣盈...比利時的男爵夫人...
  24. ↑ "陷雙重國籍爭議！ 吳欣盈：已放棄美籍12/5見真章" (in Traditional Chinese). EBC News. Retrieved 2023-12-02. ...另外她與比利時貴族雷諾男爵結婚...
  25. ↑ "新光金大公主吳欣盈 今剖腹產誕下男寶寶母子均安". udn (in Chinese). 2023-02-09.
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