Hsieh Pai-han

Hsieh Pai-han
謝柏翰
Assembly of Commons Representative
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 2011
Parliamentary group	Laeral Unbowed!
Executive President of Laeral Unbowed!
Incumbent
Assumed office July 12, 2015
Personal details
Born	(1974-06-24) June 24, 1974 Shangtou, Peichen, Laeral
Nationality	Laeralian
Political party	Laeral Unbowed!
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Spouse	Hsieh Fen
Children	Hsieh Meiling
Parent	Hsieh Kuo-yang (father) Hsieh Ju (mother)
Education	Southern Peichen Trade College
Occupation	Politician

Hsieh Pai-han (traditional Chinese:謝柏翰, pinyin: Xie Baihan) is a Laeralian politician, 2018 presidential candidate, and current leader of the Laeral Unbowed! party. In the first round of the 2018 Laeralian presidential election, Hsieh's campaign garnered 10% of the nationwide vote, a record for the party.

Early Life and Career

Hsieh was born to a working-class family in Peichen, Laeral, as the second of three sons. Hsieh attended a trade school upon graduation from high school, becoming a carpenter alongside his father. Hsieh joined the local trade union, an affiliate of the Congress of Trade Laborers, early in his career as an ordinary member. In his spare time, Hsieh hosted a talk radio show at the local community cooperative radio station, which aired for eighteen months before being removed from the air in 2002, after Hsieh made comments decrying immigrants. The story, and the resulting furor, made nationwide headlines, and led to Hsieh being offered a spot on Western Broadcasting, a right-wing radio station.

Radio Career

Hsieh began a new talk show for Western Broadcasting, entitled The Hsieh Pai-han Angle and airing daily in the afternoon. The show, where Hsieh described his own views on various cultural and political issues with a variety of guests, quickly became popular, and the show was moved to a prime late afternoon daily time slot. The show was also syndicated, with stations nationwide soon featuring Hsieh's show. During his time on The Hsieh Pai-han Angle, Hsieh spoke with guests including Delegate Damien Vendorme and LPP Deputy Minority Leader Kevin Cheng. Another guest Hsieh hosted was Duc Huang, a conservative Rén activist with ties to groups such as the Rén Self-Defense League. Huang, who had founded the party Laeral Unbowed! in 2003, quickly became friends with Hsieh and a frequent guest on Hsieh's show. In 2009, Hsieh announced that he would be leaving his show to enter politics full-time on the Laeral Unbowed! list for the Assembly of Commons.

Political Career

Hsieh was elected to the Assembly of Commons in the 2010 elections, buoyed by his nationwide fame. Hsieh quickly became a well-known member of the Assembly of Commons, notably claiming that the World Assembly and Nicholas Brennan had arranged for the assassination of Rén militant leader Zhou Guanzhong, who died of a heart attack in 2011, as well as claiming that the 2014 presidential election had been rigged in favor of President Brennan.

In 2015, Hsieh was elected as Executive President of Laeral Unbowed!, the party's top administrative position. As Executive President, Hsieh oversaw a rewriting of the party's charter (constitution) to remove Article 4, which declared the party's 'unending support' for wide-scale reparations for imperialism and the removal of French as an official language of Laeral, as well as leading a rewrite of the party manifesto to moderate its language on race. While these moves were condemned as contrary to the spirit of the party by some grassroots activists, Hsieh defended them as "necessary adjustments" to the platform. In 2016, Laeral Unbowed! received 4.4% of the nationwide vote for the Assembly of Commons, or 17 seats, the party's best-ever total.

Presidential Campaign

Hsieh was named as Laeral Unbowed!'s candidate for the office of President of Laeral in 2018. Hsieh led what was described as "the smartest campaign in Laeralian politics", which centered on normalizing Laeral Unbowed! as an acceptable part of the political spectrum and attracting mixed-race and Arrivée voters. Hsieh received 10.4% of the nationwide vote in the first round of the presidential election, the fifth-most of any candidate. He declined to endorse a candidate in the second round, although he was spotted carrying a pad of paper with the name 'Liu Mei-han?' written on it. Under Hsieh's leadership, Laeral Unbowed! won 41 seats in the Assembly of Commons (becoming the fourth-largest party) and entered the General Assembly for the first time in 2018.