Lin Yang-kang

{{Infobox officeholder |name = Lin Yang-kang |native_name = 林洋港

Lin Yang-kang (Chinese: 林洋港; pinyin: Lín Yánggǎng; June 10, 1927 – April 13, 2013) was a politician of the Republic of China (Taiwan). He was born at Sun Moon Lake during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. Some thought he might be Chiang Ching-kuo's successor as head of the Kuomintang (KMT), but after failing to win the KMT's nomination for president in 1996, he became an independent.

On April 13, 2013, Lin died at home, of intestinal obstruction and organ failure, at the age of 87.

Biography

Lin was born in Nantou County, Taiwan, and graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor of science degree.

Lin was married to Chen Ho (陳閤) and had one son and three daughters.

Political career

He had been service in politics since the 1970s. He was a vice-chairman of the Kuomintang in 1990. In 1990, Lin was in the "non-mainstream faction" that aimed to be less confrontational with the People's Republic of China than Lee Teng-hui. He tried to replace Lee in the 1990 presidential election, with Chiang Wei-kuo as his running mate.

He resigned his position as the head of the Judicial Yuan to become a presidential candidate in the 1996 elections. Since the Kuomintang did not nominate him, Lin ran as an independent. Though he originally considered Chen Li-an as his vice presidential running mate, finally he still picked former Premier Hau Pei-tsun, considering Hau's background might attract more mainlanders' votes for him. Chen was also run as an independent and both of them later expelled from KMT. However, because of his pro-China and pro-reunification standpoints during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, they only finished third with 14.9% of the vote. He retired from political affairs and secluded himself in Taichung after this defeat. Lin resumed membership in the KMT in 2005.

1996 Republic of China Presidential Election Result
President Candidate	Vice President Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Lee Teng-hui	Lien Chan	Kuomintang	5,813,699	54.0
Peng Ming-min	Frank Hsieh	Template:DPP	2,274,586	21.1
Lin Yang-kang	Hau Pei-tsun	Independent	1,603,790	14.9
Chen Li-an	Wang Ching-feng	Independent	1,074,044	9.9
Invalid/blank votes			117,160
Total			10,883,279	100