Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday appointed Lin Chuan (林全), head of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, as the new minister of finance and Lee Chin-lung (李金龍), former director of the Council of Agriculture's (COA) Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, as head of the COA.
For the time being, Liu San-chi (
Lee, however, will decide who will take over his position at the quarantine bureau.
Yu, who officially approved the resignations of former minister of finance Lee Yung-san (李庸三) and Council of Agriculture chairman Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) on Monday, made the announcement at a press conference yesterday afternoon.
Yu said that the past three days felt like years as the media paid close attention to the potential candidates for the two positions.
"I'm glad it's over now," he said.
According to Yu, he did not inquire about Lee Chin-lung's willingness to take over the COA until 4:30pm yesterday.
"In addition to his academic achievements, Lee has complete and extensive experience in the civil service since he joined the Council of Agriculture 23 years ago," Yu said.
Lee, 55, comes from Yu's hometown of Ilan County and is one of Yu's high-school classmates. Lee joined the Council of Agriculture in 1979 as a technician. He was promoted to be the COA's secretary general in 1992 and appointed director of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau in 1998.
Holding a doctorate in horticulture from Hannover University in Germany, he has also been teaching horticulture at National Chungshing University since 1980 and at National Taiwan University since 1985.
Lee said that the first thing on his agenda is to listen to the voices of farmers and fishermen with an open mind, especially at the national summit to discuss agricultural financing on Saturday.
Yu praised Lin as an "outstanding scholar with impressive practical experience in the profession of finance."
"He's not only an eloquent speaker but also a hard worker and an idealist who dares to safeguard his ideas," Yu said.
Lin, 51, served as director of the Bureau of Finance for the Taipei City Government between 1995 and 1998 when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was the city mayor. He was appointed the head of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics in 2000.
Lin graduated from the University of Illinois with a doctorate in economics, and also teaches economics and finance at National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University.
Lin, who was consulted about the position two days ago, said that he has mixed feelings about taking up the job.
"I feel sad about leaving my co-workers at the current job and [I'm] in a ... funk about the new job," he said.
In the face of future challenges, Lin said that he will set priorities for various tasks and seek improvement as maintaining stability.
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