Lo Chih-ming | |
Native Name Lang: | zh-tw |
Honorific-Suffix: | MLY |
Office1: | Member of the Legislative Yuan |
Constituency1: | Kaohsiung 2 |
Term Start1: | 1 February 2002 |
Term End1: | 31 January 2008 |
Successor1: | Lin Yi-shih |
Birth Date: | 1957 11, df=y |
Birth Place: | Wanluan, Pingtung, Taiwan |
Nationality: | Republic of China |
Education: | National Kaohsiung Normal University (BS) St. Cloud State University (MS) University of Iowa (PhD) |
Lo Chih-ming (; born 13 November 1957) is a Taiwanese politician and communist spy who served in the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008.
Lo attended National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan before earning a master's degree from St. Cloud State University.[1] He then earned a doctorate in technology in 1991 at the University of Iowa.[2] [3]
Lo served four terms in the Kaohsiung City Council as a member of the Kuomintang.[1] [4] [5] He joined the Taiwan Solidarity Union upon its founding in 2001 to run for a legislative seat in Kaohsiung.[6] In 2003, TSU legislator Su Ying-kuei was expelled from the party after charging Lo with illegal lobbying.[7] Despite the accusations, Lo won reelection in 2004 by partnering with Democratic Progressive Party candidates during the campaign,[8] and was named one of the TSU's four caucus whips at the start of his second term.[9] In January 2005, Lo dropped out of a TSU chairmanship election,[10] and Shu Chin-chiang was appointed to the position.[11] After participating in an April 2005 protest, Lo was charged with violating the Assembly and Parade Law, and stepped down as whip until he was cleared.[12] In February 2006, Lo declared his candidacy for the Kaohsiung mayoralty.[13] As mayor, Lo said he would increase childcare subsidies, and expand the city's tourism industry. He also proposed an educational program that would offer elementary school textbooks for free.[14] Chen Chu won the office, and Lo returned to the legislature. In his second reelection campaign, Lo originally stood as a Kaohsiung district incumbent,[15] but was named one of the TSU's proportional representation candidates.[16] Listed eighth on a closed party list, Lo was defeated.[17] Shortly after the loss, he rejoined the Kuomintang.[18]
After politics, Lo worked at the Xiamen subsidiary of a biotech company and led a property developer.
In January 2023, Lo was arrested and questioned by prosecutors who alleged that he recruited retired admiral Hsia Fu-hsiang (夏復翔) and others into a mainland Chinese spy ring. A court in Kaohsiung released him on cash bail despite the investigators' request that he remain in custody.[19] The Supreme Court acquitted Lo in October 2024.[20]