The Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (CNAIC, 工商協進會) is expected to elect its new chairman today, replacing outgoing chairman Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松) with Theodore Huang (黃茂雄).
Huang, 63, is currently vice chairman of the CNAIC's international affairs committee and chairman of the board at Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機). He is expected to lead CNAIC, one of the most influential business groups in Taiwan, over the next four years.
During an exclusive interview yesterday with the Chinese-language Liberty Times, a sister publication to the Taipei Times, Huang urged the government to improve the local investment environment so that companies would stay here instead of relocating to China or other places.
In the report, Huang also stressed the importance of the social responsibilities of local entrepreneurs, saying that "industries should not walk out on the country while investing abroad or eastward to China."
Further revealing Teco's local investment, Huang said that the company's board decided on Tuesday to re-invest at least NT$20 billion in the nation's high-tech industries, starting from the second half of this year. He expressed his optimism in the upcoming economic upturn in the 3rd and 4th quarter.
This morning the association's more than 1,000 members will elect 33 board members, 11 of whom will be members of the association's standing committee and eligible to run for the chairmanship, as well as 11 supervisors.
The 33 board members-elect will then elect the chairman at a meeting this evening from the list of 11 candidates, where Huang now ranks in the first place and may successfully get elected.
Giving his blessings and endorsement, outgoing Koo had, on Monday, publicly recommended Huang to be a suitable successor for the association's chairmanship.
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