14 Facts About Julian Kuo

Kuo Jeng-liang, known by his English name Julian Kuo is a Taiwanese political scientist and politician who first served in the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008 and was reappointed to the office from 2016 to 2020.

Julian Kuo returned to Taiwan, and began teaching political science at Soochow University in 1993.

Julian Kuo was a member of the Democratic Progressive Party's Formosa faction and later switched affiliations to the New Tide faction.

Shortly after Chen Shui-bian's election to the presidency in 2000, Julian Kuo pushed for cross-party alliances and a coalition government to be formed.

However, in 2001, Julian Kuo stated that he was opposed to proposals that the Democratic Progressive Party form a coalition government, instead favoring a scenario in which the DPP disbanded and rewrote its party charter to attract a wider base before reregistering as a political party.

Julian Kuo was first elected to the Legislative Yuan later that year as a member of the DPP, due to the efforts the party had made to ensure a competitive vote distribution in northern Taiwan by asking supporters to vote for candidates based on the last number in voters' identification cards.

Julian Kuo was tapped to defend the cross-strait relations referendum in March 2004, and faced Jaw Shaw-kong.

In 2006, Julian Kuo skipped a party debate on China policy in protest, as the Chen administration had announced changes without reaching out to the Legislative Yuan.

Julian Kuo switched districts for the 2008 legislative elections, choosing to run in Taipei 3 against John Chiang, and lost.

When Taiwan signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China in 2010, Julian Kuo was named the spokesman of a DPP-convened committee against the agreement.

Julian Kuo participated in a primary for Taipei 2 in 2011, but was not selected as DPP candidate for the constituency.

Julian Kuo was invited to speak at a political forum held in Hong Kong in August 2016, but authorities there denied him a visa.

Julian Kuo subsequently drew attention for criticizing the party on political television programs, announced his withdrawal from the party in May 2023, and was formally expelled in February 2024.

Julian Kuo has sharply criticized the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed in 2010, calling it "a travesty of an agreement" that would leave Taiwan too economically dependent on China if the mainland forced other nations to back away from free trade agreements with Taiwan.