The biggest winner in the KMT Central Standing Committee (CSC) election yesterday, with 160 votes, was Chiang Ping-kun (江丙坤), senior economic adviser to new KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰).
Chiang is also director-elect of the party's policy-formulating think-tank, the National Policy Research Foundation (
Chiang, 69-years old, is six years older than former premier Vincent Siew (
Both of them have served as Taiwan's senior negotiator for international trade affairs during the past three decades.
They have also both served as director of the Board of Foreign Trade, minister of economic affairs, and chairman of the CEPD.
They also both represented former president Lee Teng-hui (
Unlike other politicians emerging from the ranks of the civil service, Chiang became known as a forthright and courageous speaker, a reputation which has been regarded as both an obstacle and an asset to his political career.
Chiang once warned that if the government and people of Taiwan did not continue to work hard it would become "the next Philippines."
He was also the first Cabinet minister to advocate direct transport links with China, while other government officials adjusted their views to accommodate President Lee's "no haste, be patient," cross-strait investment policy.
At a KMT central standing committee meeting in April 1996, Chiang drew a link between an alleged slide in the government's effectiveness with organized crime.
Then KMT chairman and president, Lee Teng-hui, quoted this remark, placing the blame on the Cabinet under then Premier Lien Chan. The relationship between Lien and Chiang immediately deteriorated.
Chiang adopted a low-profile and was excluded from the circle of Lien's closest advisers, while many political heavyweights and captains of industry appealed to Lee to name him premier.
Captains of industry admired his courage in fighting for direct transport links with China, as well as his capacity for hard work; he once lost consciousness in the Legislative Yuan during a question-and- answer session.
Last year, Chiang was recalled to the presidential campaign team and organized over 40 Taiwanese and Japanese companies into the "33 club," intended to enhance trade relations between Taiwan and Japan. In doing so he demonstrated both the power of his influence and his status as one of Lien Chan's most senior advisers.
An amiable character, Chiang will perform an important role in the KMT's reform process, and might even serve as a bridge between Japanese industry and former president Lee.
It is thought he might even help facilitate a visit to Japan by the former president to visit their mutual alma mater, the Imperial University of Tokyo -- a visit originally intended for last year, while Lee was still president.
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