Gradually, Lin won himself the nickname of "Taiwan's Iacocca" and was deemed by Commonwealth magazine as "the most professional business executive" in Taiwan.
poor political understanding
Before Lin joined the government, he was also involved in CMC's plan to set up a plant in Fuzhou in China and persuaded 30 other related automobile component makers to establish production bases in Fuzhou concurrently.
Although some business executives believed Lin, as a former businessman himself, could empathize with them, his relatively poor understanding of Taiwan's politics has made his job as a minister very difficult.
"Now he has to realize that various forces are at play in influencing the ministry's policymaking process," said Ronald Chen (
One of the major setbacks during the past one year, Ronald Chen admitted, was Lin's persistent support for scrapping the construction of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Taipei County.
Lin has argued that his stance on the controversial project was based on his "professional judgment" and his "intuitive ability to know right and wrong."
"He pointed out a fact that has long been ignored. That is, Taiwan doesn't lack power -- the key problem lies in the power transmission system. Though the bulk of Taiwan's power is generated in the south, it is the north that needs the lion's share of the electricity," Ronald Chen said.
But once the issue was "politicized," as Chen described, Lin found himself deprived of his KMT membership as his party deemed him as a traitor against the party's stance on the project.
Worse yet, his credibility was put into doubt as some private-sector leaders claimed that Lin's stance on the project simply disregarded their needs.
Although some suspected that the latest criticism from a Presidential Office official could signal the possibility that Lin would be replaced as minister in the near future, Lin remained optimistic.
"Frankly speaking, the report is wrong," Lin said as he toured downtown Shanghai on Friday.
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