■ Shea Jia-dong (
Born in Tainan County in 1948, Shea was the director of the Institute of Economics at Academia Sinica and a professor at the Department of Economics at National Taiwan University.
Shea holds a doctorate in economics from Stanford University. He originally studied foreign trade but found it too boring, switching then to economics.
PHOTO: CHIAN YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Shea follows in the footsteps of other former Central Bank governors who have moved from bank governor to head the finance ministry. The four finance ministers prior to him made the same shift.
One area of research Shea is particularly interested in is Taiwan's financial development and its financial policies.
He was chosen because of his identification with Taiwanese culture and his liberal approach to economics and finance.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
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