1. Early life

2. Before entering politics

3. Political career

4. Legislative achievements

5. Controversies

6. Reports on Yu's legislative performance

7. References

Karen Yu ({{zh|c=余宛如|p=Yú Wǎnrú|poj=Û Oán-jû}}; born 11 June 1980) is a Taiwanese politician, social entrepreneur and pioneer of free trade in Taiwan. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party, she has served as a legislator in the Legislative Yuan since 2016, focusing on issues such as digital development, Fintech, women's rights, technological innovation, social enterprise, regional revitalization, etc.

Early life

Grew up in a veteran's village in Pingtung, Yu is the last child of her family. She obtained her bachelor's degree in economics from National Taiwan University and master's degree in anthropology from University of London in the United Kingdom.^[1] After her graduation, Yu first worked as a parliamentary assistant to legislator Hsieh, a member of the People First Party. From this experience she became aware of the problems faced by Taiwan's agricultural sector.^[2] Yu later on held the position of manager in an organic care products company. When she went to Australia to receive the company's internal training, she discovered and learned that there exist many possibilities for future agricultural development, such as fair trade.

Before entering politics

To promote the concept of fair trade in Taiwan, Yu started by translating related academic papers. In search of making a greater impact, she founded a fair trade coffee shop called "OKOGreen" in 2007, the first Taiwanese company recognized by Fairtrade International.^[3] The establishment supports not only coffee produced through fair trade practices, but also food justice, ethical consumption and environmentalism by partnering with Green Party Taiwan and the Taiwan Environmental Information Center.^[4] In 2014, OKOGreen became one of the first social enterprises to be listed on Taiwan's Go Incubation Board for Startup and Acceleration Firms (GISA).^[5] The next year, OKOGreen rent old premier's residence and transformed it into the first and very cluster specific for social enterprises in Taiwan, leading the nation's development of the field.^[6] In the same year, Yu cooperated with Taipei City Mayor Ko in the aim of promoting Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, as a fair trade city.^[7]

Yu has also served on the council of the Taiwan Fairtrade Association.^[8]

Political career

Yu was the co-chair of Green Party Taiwan from 2012 to 2015. She participated the 2012 legislative elections as a candidate for Green Party Taiwan in Taipei's eighth constituency (Wenshan and Zhongzheng Districts) but lost with 3,715 votes. During the 2016 legislative elections, Yu obtained the nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party and was listed eighth on the party's proportional representation ballot.^[9] She won an at-large seat and became a legislator in the Legislative Yuan in 2016.^[10]

In the Legislative Yuan, Yu sits in the Finance Committee and deals primary on the issues of start-ups, social enterprise, e-commerce, digital economy, FinTech. In addition, she pays specific attention to the enhancement of gender equality and women rights.

In July 2016, Yu launched a cross-party diplomatic organization to increase exchanges between the Legislative Yuan and other countries' parliaments. At the end of the month, Yu also initiated a series of discussion called "Talk to Social Enterprises", inviting social entrepreneurs and legislators to discuss specific topics related to social problems.^[11]

In 2017, Yu was chosen by the United States Department of State to participate the "[https://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/international-visitor-leadership-program-ivlp International Leader Programme]" as visiting scholar, representing Taiwan's female entrepreneur, social enterprises and fair trade community.^[12]

In March 2017, Yu announced the establishment of "Parliamentary Union on D-Nation", an organization that aims at accelerating Taiwan digital transition.^[13]

In June 2018, Yu initiated another cross-party platform called "Social Innovation Parliament", aiming to scale-up Taiwan's innovation by integrating various resources through this parliamentary platform. In the next month, Yu was invited to give a speech in an event held by Women's Startup Lab in the Silicon Valley.^[14]

To promote the benign development of Blockchain industry in Taiwan, Yu cooperated with [https://apbcd.org APAC Blockchain Development Association] and released a "Self-regulation guideline" on August 10th 2018.^[15]

In February 2019, Yu was invited by Stanford University to the US as a visiting scholar.

Legislative achievements

Amendments to Company Act, amendments to Statistics Act, amendments to Statute for Industrial Innovation, amendments to Tax Collection Act, amendments to Commodity Tax Act, amendments to Futures Trading Act, amendments to Insurance Act, amendments to Trust Enterprise Act, Information and Communication Security Act, Financial Technology Development and Innovative Experimentation Act, Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, Unmanned vehicle and Technology Innovative Experimentation Act.

Controversies

On her first day in office on March 3rd 2016, Yu suggested to revise the internal rules of the Legislative Yuan, allowing legislators and heads of executive branches to bring children under the age of 3 into the parliament when having meetings. She hopes such an initiative could encourage the private sector to follow suit and create a more child-care friendly working environment for parents. But the suggestion provoked a backlash on the internet and failed to gather enough support from her colleagues to push it through the parliament.^[16]

On November 22th 2017, Yu suggested in the Finance Committee that consumption under NTD 1000 should be exempted from issuing receipt, stirring up public resentment. Some claim that it would deprive ordinary citizen's "little happiness" and reduce public interest groups' lottery redemption income. Yu's office responded and clarified shortly afterwards that the legislator is simply suggesting that consumption under NTD 1000 should be exempted from issuing "physical" receipt and use electronic receipt, so the public still has the chance to win Taiwan Receipt Lottery and shops still need to pay taxes. The purpose of suggesting of this transition is to reduce paper waste, make lottery redemption more convenient and promote the development of digital payment.^[17]

Reports on Yu's legislative performance

1. First Session: http://yuwanju.wixsite.com/self-evaluation-1
2. Second Session: http://yuwanju.wixsite.com/self-evaluation-2
3. Third Session: http://yuwanju.wixsite.com/self-evaluation-3
4. Fourth Session: http://report.yuwanju.cc/1606-2/
5. Fifth Session: https://report.yuwanju.cc/9-5/
6. Sixth Session: https://report.yuwanju.cc/9-6/

References

• Tanigawadake Ropeway
• Tanigawa Nagaru
• Taniguchi Masaki
• Taniguchi Mie
• Tani Hisao
• Tanii Asuka
• Tanika Gupta
• Tanika Ray
• Tanika Sarkar
• Tanikawa Shuntaro
• Tanikawa Station
• Tanikaze
• Tanikella Bharani
• Tani, Khost
• Taniko
• Tani lanuages
• Tanilba Bay, New South Wales
• Tani L. Cohen
• Tanimachi Kyuchome Station
• Tanimachi Kyu-chome Station
• Tanimachi line (Osaka)
• Tanimachi Roku-chome Station
• Tanimachi Rokuchome Station
• Tanimachi Yon-chome Station
• Tanimachi Yonchome Station