Background
Lin Yang-Kang was born on June 10, 1927 in Nantou, T'ai-wan, Taiwan. He was the son of Lin Chih-Chang and Lin Chen Ruan.
林洋港
Lin Yang-Kang was born on June 10, 1927 in Nantou, T'ai-wan, Taiwan. He was the son of Lin Chih-Chang and Lin Chen Ruan.
Lin Yang-Kang graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor of science degree.
Lin Yang-Kang began his political career in the 1960s. By 1990, he was a vice-chairman of the Kuomintang. Aligned with the "non-mainstream faction" that aimed to be less confrontational with the People's Republic of China than Lee Teng-hui, Lin Yang-Kang tried to replace Lee in the 1990 presidential election, with Chiang Wei-kuo as his running mate.
Lin Yang-Kang resigned his position as the head of the Judicial Yuan on 1 September 1994 to become a presidential advisor to Lee Teng-hui. Upon taking the appointment, he again declared his candidacy for Taiwan's first direct presidential elections, scheduled for 1996. However, he was not chosen as the Kuomintang nominee. Lin Yang-Kang and Chen Li-an resisted calls to join forces and run as the New Party ticket, choosing instead to run separately as independents. After considering Chang Feng-hsu as a running mate, he eventually chose former premier Hau Pei-tsun, believing that Hau's background might attract more mainlanders' votes for him. However, Lin's pro-China and pro-reunification views during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis caused many Taishang to vote against him, and the Lin-Hau ticket finished third with 14.9% of the vote. Chen ran with Wang Ching-feng. Both Chen and Lin Yang-Kang were later expelled from the Kuomintang. He retired from political affairs and secluded himself in Taichung after this defeat. Lin Yang-Kang resumed membership in the KMT in 2005.
On 13 April 2013, Lin Yang-Kang died at home in Taichung, of intestinal obstruction and organ failure, aged 85.
Lin Yang-Kang was married to Chen Ho (陳閤) and had one son and three daughters.