Chiu Tai-san (
But few of Chiu's colleagues were offered the choice of as many positions as Chiu was. After the presidential election, when Premier Yu Shyi-kun began hunting for new Cabinet officials, he gave Chiu four options.
Chiu was told he could choose to be the vice minister or vice chairman of the council, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs or the Financial Supervisory Board -- which is yet to be established.
"Chiu had the chance to take the No.2 position in any of the four agencies," former Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
The lawyer-turned-politician decided to take the post at the council, perhaps the most challenging -- and least desirable -- position among the jobs he was offered.
Experienced observers say the council is one of the government agencies in which politicians are least likely to want to spend their political careers.
Few expect that significant breakthroughs will occur in the nation's relationship with China during Chen's second term; therefore, politicians believe that working at the council might mean they wouldn't be able to add many achievements to their records.
But Chiu saw the council job in a different way.
The council, known for its high efficiency and its intelligent personnel, is the decision-making body for cross-strait policy.
Chiu and council Chairman Joseph Wu (
Chiu said at that time that he, after initial efforts to become familiar with the council's operations, decided that the council was like "a small Cabinet" because it demands expertise in diverse areas.
Many government agencies, notably the ministries of finance, economic affairs and transportation and communications, must work with the council and obtain its approval to implement their China-related policies.
Chiu, 48, graduated from the prestigious National Taiwan University's (NTU) College of Law and was a prosecutor before becoming a lawyer.
The DPP leaned heavily upon Chiu's negotiating skills when he was a legislator. Chiu often worked with the legislature's formidable Finance Committee.
The DPP lacked professionals in finance and economics, while many opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party legislators are well-known economists and businesspeople.
Chiu's performance working with the Finance Committee is believed to be one of the reasons he was offered leading positions in the government's financial and economic sectors.
After the Cabinet confirmed Wu and Chiu's positions at the council, the Chinese media quickly labeled them as separatists and made ominous predictions about the future of cross-strait relations under the two men's leadership.
Chiu declared he was not a separatist. "In the DPP, they say I am a unificationist," Chiu joked.
Debates
In March, Chiu debated unificationist Timothy Ting (丁庭宇), a sociology professor at NTU, in one of the 10 televised debates on the two questions that were put forward in the March 20 referendum.
Chiu, who argued on behalf of the government, said that if the country did not prepare itself to defy China's military threats, it might face destruction.
Later in the month, on a TV program in which Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) -- a former business tycoon and one of the country's 10 most-wanted criminals -- was speaking by satellite from Los Angeles, Chiu bombarded Chen Yu-hao with questions about his claims to have given illegal political donations to Chen Shui-bian.
Chen Yu-hao stopped responding to Chiu shortly after the program started and the show had to be stopped because Chen Yu-hao would not continue.
Chiu said Chen Yu-hao could not answer him because his questions had exposed that the former tycoon lacked any evidence to support his claims about political donations.
The sharp prosecutor has his kind side. More than 10 years ago, Chiu was serving as a prosecutor in Hsinchu when a senior high school student stole a scooter and was arrested.
With the university entrance exams approaching at the time the student was nabbed, Chiu told the boy that if he studied hard in order to pass his entrance exams, he would let him off the hook.
According to the law, a prosecutor has the option not to prosecute criminals who commit minor offenses.
The student promised to study hard and he passed his exams. He and his parents gave many thanks to Chiu.
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