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Stan Shih backs CEO for premier

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) suggestion that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) appoint a CEO as premier yesterday received the backing of Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮), the nation's "father of branding."

"I don't see why a CEO can't be premier if conflicts of interest can be avoided," Shih said in a statement following a visit by Hsieh yesterday.

Shih said the premier should be a CEO who had either already left the business world or would be willing to do so after assuming the premiership and should place his or her assets into trust once a Cabinet was formed.

"When the time is ripe, we don't have to rule out the possibility of naming a CEO as premier," Shih said.

After a 40-minute closed-door meeting, Hsieh told the media he had not visited Shih to invite him to form a Cabinet.

Hsieh said he would never undermine the powers granted to the president in the Constitution, and that Chen would personally contact candidates for the premiership.

Shih said in his statement that he and Hsieh had exchanged ideas on the country's economy.

Meanwhile, Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) yesterday confirmed that he had changed his mind and will be available to serve in the next Cabinet.

"If the new Cabinet needs me to stay on in my post, I will. I will also consider how I can do my job better," said Shieh, who doubles as Cabinet spokesman.

Shieh said he was concerned that his resignation might lead some people to think that he alone was taking responsibility for the DPP's poor performance.

Hsieh said yesterday that he "held frank talks" with Chen on Monday night after meeting with Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝).

Huang said he suggested that the two referendums regarding the country's entry to the UN be postponed and held separately from the March presidential election.

"I promised Huang I would discuss his idea with the president and so I went to see [Chen on Monday]," Hsieh said.

Huang told reporters that Hsieh supported his proposal during their closed-door meeting, but Hsieh would not comment on his own position on the issue.

Meanwhile, former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who had been tight-lipped on his preferred presidential candidate, told a Japanese daily newspaper he hoped Hsieh would win the election.

During an interview with the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese daily, Lee said politics in Taiwan would become dangerously unbalanced if the KMT won the presidential election following its landslide victory in the legislative election.
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