The appointment of Minister without Portfolio Huang Hui-chen (黃輝珍) as the director-general of the Government Information Office (GIO) on Friday came as a surprise for many, but those close to Huang said that they had expected this to happen one way or another.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior editor at a local newspaper who went to the same university with Huang and shared the same newsroom with him for five years, described Huang as "forever the spokesperson of the majority."
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
"He always sides with the mainstream and knows when to change his tack," he said.
One of Huang's mottoes is "to believe in Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) thinking and believe it blindly, to follow Lee Teng-hui's path and follow it unreasoningly."
He also revealed that Huang enjoyed memorizing the doggerel written by Mao Zedong (
"When you hear him talk, it feels as if he's citing from a boring textbook," he said.
Another old friend of Huang, who is a high-ranking official of a mainstream Chinese-language daily, said that he is not at all surprised to learn of Huang's appointment.
"He has always wanted to be a politician when he was in the journalism business," he said on condition of anonymity.
Huang, 49, was a journalist and was later promoted to the deputy editor-in-chief post at the Chinese-language newspaper, the China Times, between 1980 and 1993. He was the publisher and president of the KMT-owned Central Daily News between 1996 and 1999.
Because of his interest in politics, he joined the Institute for National Policy Research in 1993 and stayed there until 1996.
It was there where Huang established his close contacts with former president Lee, who served as the honorary chairman of the center.
Established in 1989, the research center is a private think tank headed by TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) and is affiliated with Chang Yung-fa's (張榮發) Evergreen Group.
After the National Unification Council (國統會) was set up in 1991 by then-president Lee, Huang was recruited as one of its members between 1998 and 1999.
Huang moved on to become the spokesman of the KMT between 1999 and 2000. Because of his political affiliation with Lee, Huang was recruited by the DPP-led government in 2001 to be the secretary-general of the National Cultural Association (中華文化復興運動總會).
Although the association changed its structure to be a non-government organization in 1991, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became the organization's chairman in September 2000, while Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) serves as one of the four vice chairpersons.
In February last year, Huang was appointed by Premier Yu Shyi-kun as a minister without portfolio to be in charge of reviewing bills and policies concerning the media and minority groups.
Commenting on his old colleague with whom he shared the same office for three years, the deputy president of the Chinese-language newspaper said that Huang was simply too preoccupied with getting his feet wet in politics to focus his mind on his journalism career.
"If there's anything good about this guy, it's his quick wit," he said. "He knows exactly what to say and what to do to please his bosses. He's extremely smart and well aware of making good use of his personal advantages and putting himself in the best position."
Despite Huang's ambition, he said that Huang has two major disadvantages.
"His English sucks and he doesn't read much. He hasn't even read any of Jin Yung's (金庸) books," he said.
Jin Yung, whose real name is Louis Cha (查良鏞), is one of the most famous fiction writers of the knight-errant romances in the Chinese world. He is also well-known as a journalist and the founder of the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao (明報).
Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political observer and the editor-in-chief of the Contemporary Monthly, said that Huang's appointment is actually a good move by the DPP.
"Although there are only eight to nine months left before the presidential election, Huang can play a crucial role in the campaign as no one knows about the pan-blue camp better than he does and he has the experience of fighting against PFP Chairman James Soong in the infamous Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal (興票案) during the last presidential election," Chin said.
Chin was Huang's colleague at the China Times and the Taiwan Advocates (群策會). The Taiwan Advocates is regarded as an important brain trust of the DPP administration.
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