Senior presidential advisor Li Kwoh-ting (
Li, 92, had been in a coma since May 21 after suffering a stroke.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
After learning of Li's death, Secretary-General to the President Yu Shyi-kun, on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (
The Institute for Information Industry (
Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said yesterday: "Li was a remarkable person. Many people admire his contribution [to the country] and we are not likely to find another role model like Li again," Lee said.
Having served as head of the government's economic, financial and high-technology ministries for over 35 years, Li has been dubbed the country's "father of technological development" and "father of finance and the economy."
As a major economic policy-maker under former president Chiang Ching-kuo (
Li also helped develop Taiwan's semiconductor industry by asking the present chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Morris Chang (張忠謀), to return from the US and head Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院).
"If it had not been for Li, TSMC's achievements would never have been possible," Chang once told the media.
One of the key architects of Taiwan's economic miracle, Li was invited to attend several international conferences in China and met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
Li, who had put particular emphasis on information technology, however, also attracted severe criticism for ignoring the development of small and medium-sized enterprises by favoring larger firms with more government resources.
"In terms of a lack of government financing to small and medium-enterprises, [Li's policies] forced them to go to the black market for capital," Wu Hui-lin (
Wu added that Li's emphasis at the time on only cultivating talent in the fields of technology and electronics put undue strain on the progress of educational reform, shifting funds away from school programs that taught subjects other than technology and electronics.
Industry tycoon Wang Yung-ching (
But the overwhelming consensus is that Li was a driving force in leading Taiwan to become, as of last year, the 14th-largest trading nation in the world.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
ENHANCED SECURITY: A Japanese report said that the MOU is about the sharing of information on foreign nationals entering Japan from Taiwan in the event of an emergency The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and Japan had signed an agreement to promote information exchanges and cooperation on border management, although it did not disclose more details on the pact. Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said the ministry is happy to see that the two nations continue to enhance cooperation on immigration control, in particular because Taiwan and Japan “share a deep friendship and frequent people-to-people exchanges.” “Last year, more than 7.32 million visits were made between the two countries, making it even more crucial for both sides to work closer on immigration and border control,” he said. Hsiao
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