VZCZCXRO1426
RR RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #2783 2280623
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160623Z AUG 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1623
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 3377
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5538
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8015
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 6572
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 7934
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 9777
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 3907
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 3544
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 3112
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4283
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1541
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6751
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0312
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 9492

UNCLAS TAIPEI 002783 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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STATE PLEASE PASS USTR 
 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC, EAP/EP 
 
USTR FOR ALTBACH 
 
USDOC FOR 3132/USFCS/OIO/EAP/WZARIT 
TREASURY FOR OASIA/LMOGHTADER 
TREASURY PLEASE PASS TO OCC/AMCMAHON 
TREASURY ALSO PASS TO FEDERAL RESERVE/BOARD OF 
GOVERNORS, AND SAN FRANCISCO FRB/TERESA CURRAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINV EFIN ECON PINR TW
SUBJECT:  New Senior Financial Officials 
REF: TAIPEI 2634 
 
¶1.  Summary:  In early August, three new ministerial-level officials 
were inaugurated: Economic Minister Chen Ruey-long (Steve), 
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Shih Jun-jih, and 
Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) Chairman Chen Shu (Gordon).  Steve Chen 
replaced Hwang Ing-san (reftel).  Shih Jun-jih will serve the 
remaining term of office (until June 2008) of former FSC Chairman 
Kong Jaw-sheng who was indicted for corruption in May.  Gordon Chen 
replaced Wu Nai-jen, who has been the TSE Chairman over the past two 
years.  Reftel contains a brief bio for Steve Chen.  Bios for FSC 
Chairman Shih Jun-jih and TSE Chairman Gorden Chen follow.  End 
Summary. 
 
FSC Chairman: Shih Jun-jih 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Shih, 51, was promoted to Chairman of the Financial Supervisory 
Commission (FSC) just one month after he was appointed as a FSC 
commissioner in July 2006.  Shih has little working experience in 
the financial sector but has the strong support of Premier Su 
Tseng-chang.  He was an economic advisor to Su Tseng-chang when Su 
 
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was Chairman of the ruling DPP Party from February to December 2005. 
 Their relationship was such that Shih earned the title of Su's 
"private tutor" in economics.  Shih's only financial experience is 
as board director of both the state-owned Central Trust of China and 
the private Taipei Bank.  Since earning a Ph.D. in Economics from 
National Taiwan University in the mid-1980s, Shih has been teaching 
economics, with a short interruption from 1998 to 2001 when he 
served as a commissioner of the Fair Trade Commission.  In 2005, 
Shih was nominated as a commissioner to the National Communications 
Commission (NCC), but his nomination was rejected by the 
opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan. 
 
TSE Chairman:  Chen Shu (Gorden) 
 
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-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Prior to his current appointment, Gordon Chen, 52, served as 
Vice Minister of Finance for four and a half years.  Chen's career 
has been closely linked to securities issues, except for the past 
two years when the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) in July 
2004 took securities supervision away from the Ministry of Finance. 
During the three-year period before he was promoted to Vice Finance 
Minister in 2002, Chen was Director of the Executive Yuan's (EY) 
Fourth Department, taking care of public finance and the financial 
sector, including the securities market.  He was Vice Chairman of 
Taiwan's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) (the predecessor of 
the Securities and Futures Bureau) for three years (1992-1995) and 
SFC Chairman for one year and three months (February 1995 - May 
1996).  He was removed as SFC Chairman because he spoke to media 
without authorization about a plan to extend the stock trading 
times.  However, he staged a comeback in 1998 when then Premier 
Vincent Siew (under the KMT administration) appointed him as 
Director of the EY Secretariat and subsequently promoted him to 
Director of the EY's Fourth Department in January 1999.  Chen joined 
the SFC in 1979 after earning an MA in Public Finance from National 
Chengchi University.  He earned a Ph. D. in Accounting Science from 
National Taiwan University in 1996.  Chen, a devoted Buddhist, is 
cautious, careful and conservative. 
 
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