"He's a smart, low-key and careful person who doesn't easily make his stance known until the very last minute," he said.
Chung went to the same university and joined the same school association with Lin when Lin was the association chair. Chung was also Lin's assistant when Lin was senior adviser to the National Security Council.
According to Chung, Lin knew exactly what he wanted to do when he was a university student -- that is, go to graduate school and become an academic.
His dream came true when he was admitted to the graduate school of National Taiwan University in 1986 to pursue studies in political science. He went on to pursue another master's degree in philosophy at Yale University in 1992 and in political science at Yale in 1993.
He returned to Taiwan in 1998 after obtaining his doctorate in political science from Yale.
According to Chung, Lin's sophistication and extensive political connections have a lot to do with his becoming chairman of the school's China Study Association and a student of Hu Fu (
"In the 1980s, the association was considered a pro-unification group because it received funding from the KMT and association members could get access to the ruling party's high-ranking officials and sensitive government information," Chung said.
As the chairman of the highly political association, Chung said, Lin was walking a fine line between keeping the party funding coming in and embracing left-wing thinking.
"He had to be very careful and skillful in terms of mingling with the school and pro-independence student groups," Chung said.
Despite the potential headaches, school authorities were fond of Lin because he was a brilliant young man and did well at school.
"The association is a rebellious group," Chung said.
Thanks to Hu's extensive academic and political connections, Lin got to know many outstanding academics including Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (
RSS