Frank Hsieh Chang-ting (Chinese: 謝長廷; pinyin: Xiè Chángtíng; born 18 May 1946) is a Taiwanese politician, diplomat, and former defense attorney who has served as the chairman of the Taiwan–Japan Relations Association since 2026. He was the premier of the Republic of China in the administration of Chen Shui-bian from 2005 to 2006, the mayor of Kaohsiung from 1998 to 2005, and a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1990 to 1996.
Born in Taipei, Hsieh earned law degrees from National Taiwan University and Kyoto University in 1970 and 1972, respectively. He practiced law as a defense attorney and rose to prominence as a member of the legal team defending the eight pro-democracy activists arrested in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. He was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981, helped found the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986, and was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1990.
After serving two terms as mayor of Kaohsiung and a term as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party from 2000 to 2002, Hsieh was named the premier under Chen Shui-bian. At the end of Chen's presidency, he was named the DPP's candidate in the 2008 presidential election, but was defeated by Ma Ying-jeou. He has since held multiple ambassadorial and advisory positions under presidents Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Ching-te.
Hsieh was born in Dadaocheng, Taipei, on 18 May 1946. His ancestral home is in Dongshan County, Fujian. His ancestors had migrated from Fujian to Taiwan in 1815. Both his grandfather and father were physicians practicing traditional Chinese medicine. As a child, Hsieh spent time living with his parents in a military dependents' village. During high school, he became a gymnast and won a gold medal in a provincial athletics competition. He attended Taipei Municipal Shilin High School of Commerce, during which time he gave up gymnastics in order to attend cram schools.
In 1967, Hsieh enrolled at National Taiwan University, where he studied law. As an undergraduate, he worked as a private tutor, joined a debate society (健言社), and attended lectures on sociology and history. He developed a reputation as a notable student debater; on one occasion, he debated against Ma Ying-jeou, who was also a law student at the university. Among his teachers in college was the jurist Weng Yueh-sheng and the Japanese legal scholar Hideo Tanaka. In 1969, during his third year in law school, Hsieh attained the highest scores in the national bar examination and qualified as an attorney. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1970.
After law school, Hsieh was awarded a full scholarship by the Japanese Ministry of Education to pursue graduate studies in Japan at Kyoto University, where he studied jurisprudence. While in Japan, he came under the influence of legal scholar Watanabe Yōzō. He earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Kyoto University Faculty of Law in 1972 and studied towards a doctorate in law there until 1976. Hsieh ultimately withdrew from the doctoral program—all but dissertation—after his father was diagnosed with liver cancer.
Through a classmate's introduction, Hsieh began his legal career as an associate attorney at a Taipei law firm founded by a Japanese-educated partner, Liu Wang-tsai (劉旺才). Liu was a prominent lawyer whose firm also included Chen Ji-sheng, head of the Office of the President, and democracy activist Lin Yi-hsiung. Hsieh worked there for several years upon returning from Japan. He would remain a practicing attorney until 1981. His work concentrated on bankruptcy and corporate liquidation, and other matters concerning commercial law. He handled multiple prominent bankruptcy cases throughout his practice, including the Cathay Trust controversy, and oversaw workers' compensation and the freezing of client companies' assets.
Hsieh rose to national prominence while working as a defense attorney for the political dissidents implicated in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident.
Prior to the 1986 establishment of the Democratic Progressive Party, Hsieh, Chen Shui-bian and Lin Cheng-chieh were known as the "three musketeers" of the tangwai movement. Hsieh cofounded the party and was the one who proposed its current name. He has also served as its chairman twice. A two-time Taipei City councilor from 1981 to 1988, Hsieh was then elected to the Legislative Yuan, the next year, and won reelection in 1992. Instead of running for reelection in the 1995 legislative elections, Hsieh chose to run in the 1994 Taipei mayoral election, and lost a primary to eventual winner Chen Shui-bian. In September 1995, Peng Ming-min and Hsieh were placed on the Democratic Progressive Party ticket for the 1996 presidential election. They finished second with 21.1% of the vote.
In 1997, Hsieh successfully negotiated the surrender of the gunman in the Alexander family hostage crisis, raising his national profile.
To the surprise of many observers, Hsieh won the 1998 Kaohsiung City mayoral election, and defeated the Kuomintang incumbent, Wu Den-yih, by 4,565 votes. His administration focused on improving water quality in surrounding rivers as well as a general overhaul of the port of Kaohsiung. Hsieh supported placing the port, at the time run largely by the central government, under the jurisdiction of Kaohsiung City Government. Under Hsieh's leadership efforts to clean up the heavily polluted Love River began in 1999, and ended in 2002. He was also largely responsible for the establishment of the Kaohsiung Metro. These achievements helped Hsieh earn strong support among Kaohsiung citizens. He was re-elected for a four-year term in 2002. Hsieh was projected to win easily, but People First Party chair James Soong publicly supported Kuomintang candidate Huang Jun-ying, which helped Huang earn more votes. Hsieh defeated Huang by 24,838 votes (3.22%).
In January 2005, Hsieh was appointed premier, forcing him to leave his post as mayor of Kaohsiung. Chen Chi-mai succeeded him as acting mayor.
Kuomintang politicians asked Hsieh to step down from the premiership shortly after the Kaohsiung MRT foreign workers scandal broke. Hsieh eventually resigned as premier in the aftermath of the 2005 "Three-in-One" elections, which the DPP lost in a landslide.
As the DPP candidate for the 2006 Taipei Mayoral election, Hsieh lost the race to KMT candidate Hau Lung-pin by 166,216 votes (12.92%). The loss was largely expected, as Taipei was considered a Kuomintang stronghold.
In February 2007, he led the Taiwanese delegation to the 55th annual United States National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Congressional Committee, with dignitaries including President George W. Bush.
Hsieh was frequently considered to be a leading contender for the DPP nomination in the 2008 presidential election, and formally announced his intention to run in the election on February 16, 2007. Hsieh was the second to formally declared candidacy, after the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou did so three days prior. Hsieh won 45% of the vote in the Democratic Progressive Party primary. A scheduled straw poll was cancelled after his three primary opponents all conceded defeat, and Hsieh was declared the DPP nominee. In July 2007, Hsieh visited the United States, branding it "the journey of Love and Trust" (「愛與信任」之旅). In September 2007, Hsieh openly declared that he was running for the presidency of the State of Taiwan (台灣國), saying that "recogniz[ing] ourselves (the Taiwanese people) as a nation first and then fight[ing] for what we want during negotiations with other countries" is important. As a result of the Kuomintang's allegations of graft against Hsieh, prosecutors began an investigation of him in 2007. The investigation ended in September, when it was announced that Hsieh would not be charged with wrongdoing.
Regarding Ma Ying-jeou's idea of a "cross-strait common market," Hsieh states that if Taiwan only focuses on the economy, it will end up like Hong Kong and Macau, whose only goal in life is to make money. Hsieh believes that improving the economy is as important as preserving national dignity, and that the goal of economic development is more than just making money, but it is also improving the happiness of people.