Clara Chou

Clara Chou
File:周玉蔻.png Clara Chou (center, wearing yellow lanyard) at the press conference following the 2015 Ma–Xi meeting
Native name	周玉蔻
Born	(1953-09-09) 9 September 1953 Keelung, Taiwan
Nationality	Taiwanese
Alma mater	National Chengchi University Harvard University Peking University
Occupation	journalist
Political party	Kuomintang (before 2000; 2008–2014) Taiwan Solidarity Union (2006)

Clara Chou (Chinese: 周玉蔻; pinyin: Zhōu Yùkòu; Wade–Giles: Chou Yu-kou; born 9 September 1953) is a Taiwanese television and radio personality.

Education

Chou attended National Chengchi University, where she earned a degree in journalism. She then entered Harvard University, where she earned a master's degree, followed by an Executive Master of Science in Business Administration degree at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management.

Political career

Chou supported the Kuomintang, before the party lost power in the 2000 election. After the loss, she publicly supported the Democratic Progressive Party's policies, and ran as a candidate for the Pan-Green Taiwan Solidarity Union in the 2006 Taipei City municipal election. She was expelled from the TSU during her mayoral campaign for suggesting that President Chen Shui-bian resign in the wake of First Lady Wu Shu-chen's indictment for graft, though her name still appeared on the ballot as the TSU candidate. The expulsion was later reduced to a suspension. By 2008, Chou had rejoined the KMT. After Ma Ying-jeou resigned as KMT chair in December 2014, Chou tried to run for the position, but was rejected.

2006 Taipei City Mayoral Election Result
No	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
1	Li Ao	Independent	7,795	0.61%
2	Clara Chou	Taiwan Solidarity Union	3,372	0.26%
3	Frank Hsieh	Democratic Progressive Party	525,869	40.89%
4	James Soong	Independent	53,281	4.14%
5	Hau Lung-pin	Kuomintang	692,085	53.81%
6	Ke Tsi-hai (柯賜海)	Independent	3,687	0.29%

Controversy

In 2014, Chou accused President Ma Ying-jeou of accepting donations from Ting Hsin International Group. At the time, the company was investigated as part of the 2014 Taiwan food scandal. Chou believed Ma had a hand in covering up Ting Hsin's role in the incident. In December, Ma filed two lawsuits against Chou for the comments she made. She countered with a lawsuit against the Kuomintang, targeting acting party chairperson Wu Den-yih. Chou was stripped of her KMT membership later that month, days after she had presented evidence of the party's alleged misdeeds. In December 2015, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chou on charges of defamation in connection to her comments about Ting Hsin. Ma's criminal court case against Chou was resolved later that month. The Taipei District Court found her not guilty of defamation.

Chou made further accusations of the KMT in June 2015, this time against then-unconfirmed presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu, claiming that Hung's master's degree from Northeast Missouri State University was falsified. Hung sued Chou and the Next Magazine employees who first published the accusations. Chou further stated in August that Hung was thinking of ending her presidential run early in return for a legislative position or money. In response, Hung charged Chou with defamation again. That same month, Terry Gou was awarded NT$2 million in his defamation suit against Chou, who had accused Gou of violating the Political Donations Act in January.