Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), who died on Wednesday at the age of 91, is considered one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Taiwan. For many Taiwanese, he was a successful businessman who built his fortune from scratch.
Wang’s death caused fears that Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) business plans and operations would decline without its spiritual leader. It also brought about a feeling of loss for a legendary businessman who may have no equal in Taiwan, now or in the future.
Share prices of the group’s 10 subsidiaries listed on the nation’s main bourse all plunged by their daily limit on Thursday, indicating the lack of confidence of investors after Wang’s death. Those shares recouped most of their losses in Friday trading, but uncertainty will remain as long as the issue of Wang’s successor is unsettled.
Forbes magazine in June rated Wang the nation’s second-wealthiest person with a fortune of US$6.8 billion. Many in Taiwan credit the deceased businessman simply for being a household name.
Wang was a straightforward man who was known to take risks. Paying their last respects, mourners praised the tycoon for his clear-cut decision-making and emphasis on operational efficiency. They also credited his pragmatism and farsighted business initiatives.
The establishment of Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) in 1954 and of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚醫院) — the nation’s largest and most profitable hospital chain — in 1976 are two of his most conspicuous accomplishments. His leadership of the two groups earned Wang the nickname “god of management.”
Wang was a human being, however, and did make mistakes over the decades, especially in a televised debate with then-Ilan County commissioner Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) in 1987, when he argued for the establishment of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker plant in the county’s Lize Industrial Park (利澤工業區).
Straightforward but not as eloquent as Chen, Wang lost the debate over environmental protection and economic growth. Formosa Plastics was forced to search for other sites to build the naphtha cracker and finally found one in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County, in 1991.
Wang also experienced disappointing results from investments in automobile manufacturing and plasma-display panel making. He closed Formosa Automobile Corp last year after shutting down Formosa Plasma Display Corp in 2005.
But it was his secret meeting with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) in 1989 in Beijing and his criticism of former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) “no haste, be patient” trade policy toward China that raised eyebrows across the Taiwan Strait — after he was forced to give up on a proposed petrochemical project in Fujian Province in 1992. To this day, Taiwanese debate Wang’s backing of a closer relationship with China and his acceptance of Beijing’s “one China” policy.
To many Taiwanese, Wang’s legacy not only stems from the Formosa Plastics Group, but also from his straightforward attitude and his concern for corporate responsibility toward employees and shareholders.
His lifelong commitment to hard work and thrift is respectable. His passing away on a business trip to the US, even though he had retired in 2006, reflects his devotion to work — until the very end.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with