NEW ECONOMIC OFFICIALS NAMED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000206 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR STATE FOR EAP/TC COMMERCE FOR 3132/USFCS/OIO/EAP/WZARIT TREASURY FOR OASIA/LMOGHTADER USTR FOR STRATFORD, ALTBACH E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2017 TAGS: EFIN PGOV ECON PINR TW SUBJECT: NEW ECONOMIC OFFICIALS NAMED REF: A. TAIPEI 153 ¶B. TAIPEI 63 Classified By: AIT Deputy Director Robert S. Wang, Reason 1.4 b ¶1. (C) Summary: The Chen administration named Hu Sheng- cheng Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman, Ho Mei-yueh Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman (CEPD),and Tang Jinn-chuan Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman. The appointments of Hu and Ho come after the previous FSC Chairman resigned over the China Rebar Pacific Group scandal. Both are long-serving cabinet members. End Summary. New Economic Cabinet Officials Named -------------- ¶2. (U) On January 25, the Executive Yuan (EY) announced three new economic and financial cabinet officials as follows: -- FSC Chairman - Hu Sheng-cheng, previously Chairman of CEPD. --CEPD Chairman - Ho Mei-yueh, previously Minister without Portfolio. --FTC Chairman - Tang Jinn-chuan, previously Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung. ¶3. (C) The FSC and CEPD appointments were prompted by the resignation of Shih Jun-ji as FSC Chairman to take responsibility for the run on Chinese Bank, an affiliate of China Rebar Pacific Group (CRPG). Hu replaces Shih, and Ho will take over the vacancy left by Hu at CEPD. Both are long-serving cabinet members. Ho, who appears to be close to Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen, has now served under three Premiers, and Hu has served under four. ¶4. (U) CRPG has been at the center of a major financial scandal with broader POLITICAL implications. The bank run occurred after CRPG announced a large-scale reorganization on January 4, 2007, that caused stock prices of CRPG affiliates to collapse (ref B). CRPG's Chairman Wang You-theng and others in the group have been accused of massive embezzlement and insider trading. Wang is now believed to be in the United States (ref A). ¶5. (U) Tang was named to replace FTC Chairman Hwang Tzong-leh because Hwang's term expires in mid-February. Hwang will become Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Integrity Committee. Biographic information of the three new appointees follows: FSC Chairman - Hu Sheng-cheng -------------- ¶6. (U) Hu Sheng-cheng, 67, has served in Taiwan's cabinet for six years, the second longest after Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan. He was named CEPD Chairman when President Chen started his second term in May 2004. Hu was recruited to serve in the DPP administration as Minister without Portfolio in March 2001 as part of an effort by then Premier Chang Chun-hsiung to strengthen the economic credentials of the cabinet. For ten months prior to March 2001, Hu was a Board Director for Taiwan's Central Bank of China. ¶7. (U) Before joining the government, Hu worked in academia. From 1996 to 2000, he was Director of Academia Sinica's Economic Research Institute. He taught economics at Purdue University from 1968 to 1996. For the last five years of his tenure at Purdue, Hu was Chairman of the Economics Department. He also served as an advisor to the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research in the early 1990's, giving advice on national health insurance policy. ¶8. (C) Hu joined the DPP in June 2004. He earned a BA in economics from National Taiwan University in 1962 and a PhD from the University of Rochester in 1968. Hu has been a valuable contact for AIT. His demeanor is unassuming and friendly. He is generally forthright with American interlocutors. TAIPEI 00000206 002 OF 002 CEPD Chairman - Ho Mei-yueh -------------- ¶9. (U) Ho Mei-yueh, 56, was named Minister without Portfolio in May 2004 after serving for two years as Minister of Economic Affairs. Her portfolio now includes both economic and agricultural issues. When President Chen first took office in May 2000, Ho was promoted from Director of the EY Fifth Department (in charge of economic issues) to Vice Chairman of CEPD. Previously, she worked for 22 years in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Industrial Development Bureau. ¶10. (SBU) Like Hu, Ho joined the DPP in June 2004. She has a BS in agricultural chemistry from National Taiwan University. She also has a particularly good relationship with current Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen as the two had worked on Taiwan's entry into the WTO for many years. She is outwardly calm, but focused and diligent. FTC Chairman - Tang Jinn-chuan -------------- ¶11. (U) Tang Jinn-chuan, 61, is one of the founders of the DPP party. He has a strong legal background. Tang served as Vice Minister of Justice for one year before he was appointed Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung in February 2005. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1998 to 2004 and a Kaohsiung City Councilman from 1994 to 1998. Prior to that, he worked as a prosecutor, judge and attorney. Tang earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Catholic Fujen University and a Master of Laws (LLM) from National Taiwan University. YOUNG