| Lee Ying-yuan | |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-tw |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MLY |
| Office1: | Representative of Taiwan to Thailand |
| Term Start1: | 13 August 2020 |
| Term End1: | 31 August 2021 |
| President1: | Tsai Ing-wen |
| 1Blankname1: | MOFA Minister |
| 1Namedata1: | Joseph Wu |
| Successor1: | Chuang Suo-hang |
| Office2: | 12th Minister of Environmental Protection Administration |
| Primeminister2: | Lin Chuan William Lai |
| Term Start2: | 20 May 2016 |
| Term End2: | 1 December 2018 |
| Predecessor2: | Wei Kuo-yen |
| Successor2: | Tsai Hung-teh (acting) Chang Tzi-chin |
| Office3: | Member of the Legislative Yuan |
| Constituency3: | Party-list |
| Term Start3: | 1 February 2012 |
| Term End3: | 20 May 2016 |
| Successor3: | Shih Yi-fang |
| Constituency4: | Taipei County |
| Term Start4: | 1 February 1996 |
| Term End4: | August 2000 |
| Office5: | Acting Magistrate of Yunlin |
| Term Start5: | 5 November 2008 |
| Term End5: | 17 November 2008 |
| Predecessor5: | Su Chih-fen |
| Successor5: | Su Chih-fen |
| Office6: | Deputy Magistrate of Yunlin |
| Term Start6: | July 2008 |
| Term End6: | July 2009 |
| 1Blankname6: | Magistrate |
| Office7: | 11th Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party |
| Term Start7: | 15 January 2008 |
| Term End7: | 15 May 2008 |
| 1Blankname7: | Chairman |
| 1Namedata7: | Chen Shui-bian |
| Predecessor7: | Cho Jung-tai |
| Successor7: | Wang Tuoh |
| Office8: | 7th Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs |
| Primeminister8: | Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang |
| Term Start8: | 19 September 2005 |
| Term End8: | 20 May 2007 |
| Predecessor8: | Chen Chu |
| Successor8: | Lu Tien-ling |
| Order9: | 21st and 24th |
| Office9: | Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan |
| Primeminister9: | Frank Hsieh |
| Term Start9: | 1 February 2005 |
| Term End9: | 19 September 2005 |
| Predecessor9: | Arthur Iap |
| Successor9: | Cho Jung-tai |
| Primeminister10: | Yu Shyi-kun |
| Term Start10: | 1 February 2002 |
| Term End10: | 1 July 2002 |
| Predecessor10: | Chiou I-jen |
| Successor10: | Liu Shyh-fang |
| Office11: | Deputy Representative of Taiwan to the United States |
| 1Blankname11: | Representative |
| Term Start11: | September 2000 |
| Term End11: | 21 January 2002 |
| Alongside11: | Shen Lyu-shun |
| Successor11: | Michael Tsai |
| Birth Date: | 1953 3, df=n |
| Birth Place: | Yunlin County, Taiwan |
| Death Place: | Zhongzheng, Taipei, Taiwan |
| Spouse: | Huang Yue-kui |
| Party: | Democratic Progressive Party |
| Alma Mater: | National Taiwan University Harvard University University of North Carolina |
Lee Ying-yuan (; 16 March 1953 – 11 November 2021) was a Taiwanese politician. He was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995 and stepped down in 2000. In 2005, Lee was appointed the Minister of Council of Labor Affairs, which he led until 2007. Lee has also served as Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party, and was reelected to the Legislative Yuan in 2012. He was appointed the Minister of Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in 2016. He left the EPA in 2018, and subsequently served as Taiwan's representative to Thailand from 2020 to 2021.
Lee Ying-yuan was born into a family of farmers in 1953. He studied public health at National Taiwan University and earned a master's degree in health policy from Harvard University before receiving his PhD in health economics in 1988 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1] Upon Lee's graduation, he was slated to teach at NTU, but was placed on a blacklist and barred from returning to Taiwan by the Kuomintang-led government, stemming from his pro-democracy activities in the Formosa Incident during Taiwan's martial law period. During Lee's time as a student in the United States, he was also an active member of the World United Formosans for Independence, which attracted more of the KMT's attention.[2]
After returning to Taiwan through illegal channels and avoiding intelligence agents for fourteen months, Lee was arrested in September 1991, and charged with violation of of the . He was released in May 1992, after would-be colleagues at National Taiwan University intervened on his behalf. Revisions to Article 100 were also passed that month, and meant that evidence of possible threats had to be submitted to the Commission of Violence prior to indictment or arrest.[3] [4]
Lee was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995.[5] He then became the youngest convener of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus in the legislature. Following DPP’s successful presidential election in 2000, Lee was appointed by President Chen Shui-bian to be the Deputy Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the U.S. and then Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan.[2] He was then named the DPP candidate for Taipei City's 2002 mayoral election, losing to incumbent mayor Ma Ying-jeou in a landslide.[6]
| 2002 Taipei City mayoral election result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | ||||
| Democratic Progressive Party | 1 | Lee Ying-yuan | 488,811 | 35.89% | |||
| Kuomintang | 2 | Ma Ying-jeou | 873,102 | 64.11% | | ||
| Total | 1,374,862 | align=right colspan=2 | 100.00% | ||||
| Voter turnout | 70.61% | ||||||
During the summer of 2015, Lee accompanied DPP chairperson and presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen on her visit to the United States, along with DPP General Secretary Joseph Wu.[12] Lee was named Tsai's Environmental Protection Administration minister after she won the 2016 election. He stated that his goal was to transform the EPA into a full-fledged ministry within 18 months of taking office.[13] On 1 December 2018, Lee stepped down from the EPA.[14]
In June 2020, Lee was appointed representative of Taiwan to Thailand, succeeding, and formally took office on 13 August 2020.[15] Lee's resignation from the position was approved on 4 August 2021, and took effect on 1 September 2021.[16]
Lee was married to Laura Huang (黃月桂).[17]
Lee died of pancreatic cancer on 11 November 2021, at the age of 68 in National Taiwan University Hospital.[18] [19]