Cabinet considering China Steel chair

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that the government will carefully consider a replacement for chairman of China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) together with the upcoming personnel reshuffle of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC, 高雄捷運).

Hsieh made the remarks after inspecting a test run in Tainan County of the new 700T bullet train built in Japan for the Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵).

The premier also confirmed that Chiang Yao-tsung, chairman of China Airlines, Taiwan's largest carrier, is one of the potential candidates for the CSC chairmanship. He added that a final decision on the appointment of the new CSC chairman is expected tomorrow or Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Ministry of Finance official said the resignation of CSC chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) has not been ratified by the ministry and that the government has not yet given any instruction on who will succeed Lin as new head of the steel company.

Lin tendered his resignation last month in an attempt to dispel controversy surrounding a stock bonus he has received as the company's chief executive officer. Lin represents the government in the Kaohsiung-headquartered steel company, which has been privatized, but the government still holds a controlling stake in the firm.

Thanks to a steel industry boom over the past few years, Lin has received a stock bonus worth more than NT$40 million (US$1.2 million) from the company's earnings.

Critics, including lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition camps, have been pushing Lin to return the funds to national coffers.