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On November 18, KMT presidential candidate Chu Li-luan (Eric Chu) announced his running mate to be former minister of the Council of Labor Affairs, Wang Ju-hsuan. Chu says Wang was born in a working-class family who had long been concerned with the rights of the minority and laborers, as well as gender equality. In the future, the two will promote economic growth while emphasizing on distributive justice.

Chu says that Wang came from and represents the working class. During the four and a half years she served as the minister of the Council of Labor Affairs since 2008, she put a lot of effort in improving labor insurance annuity, labor rights funding, labors’ parental leaves, higher minimum wage and other labor welfare. Chu stresses that Wang’s contributions should be acknowledged by the society.

Chu also says with his expertise in finance, he will be devoted to economic developments and more peaceful cross-strait relations. On the other hand, Wang will play the role in assuring people of all social levels can benefit from the economic developments, especially women, laborers and minority groups. This is the goal they will strive for.

Wang points out that this is the time for her to do things for Taiwan. She wishes to realize justice. “Thanks to the chairman and the KMT for giving me this opportunity and letting me have a chance to realize my dreams," she says.

However, in her terms as the minister of the Council of Labor Affairs, Wang got into a dispute that drew attention from the society. She sued some factory workers who got laid off and fraudulently bankrupted and could not pay the government debt.

UDN reports, Wang says that the lawsuit against these workers had been ongoing since the previous minister, Chen Chu. The court had also ruled in favor of the Council of Labor Affairs. Hindered by the protection on the country’s claim, she had no choice but to sue the workers.

She says as an executive organization, even if she had asked her colleagues not to resort to legal measures, they would not agree because they might face problems such as malfeasance and being impeached by the Control Yuan. Therefore, she wanted to overthrow the original ruling to make room for executive organizations to solve the problem.

However, Wang says because of different opinions she had with the Executive Yuan regarding the minimum wage, she left the Council of Labor Affairs and couldn’t solve the lawsuit. Nevertheless, she says that facts have proved that her solution was the correct way to solve the problem.

SET reports, Wang says that she hasn’t been involved in politics for a long time, and the reason she became the minister of the Council of Labor Affairs was in hope that she could contribute to the society. She hopes that Taiwan can have a good election culture and that people who are new to politics can make a change to the current situation.

In addition, Wang also says that she will continue to keep herself from joining any political party.

Translated by Vic Chiang
Edited by Olivia Yang

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