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Liu Chao-shiuan

The 'Master of Chivalry' Becomes Premier

The Premier-designate will need the skills and dexterity of the martial arts heroes he creates to overcome the many challenges facing him and the country.

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The 'Master of Chivalry' Becomes Premier

By Alice Yang
From CommonWealth Magazine (vol. 395 )

After receiving his PhD in chemistry from the University of Toronto 37 years ago, he returned to National Tsing Hua University to teach. Nicknamed the "bell-bottomed professor" by his students, he was the first faculty member on his conservative campus to deliver his lectures in what was then the latest sartorial craze. As minister of transportation and communications from 1993-1996, he insisted on liberalizing the telecommunications market and breaking Chunghwa Telecom's monopoly.

When he became chairman of the Taiwan chapter of the Monte Jade Science & Technology Association, he led its first delegation to China. As president of Soochow University since 2004, he has refused to follow the pack and insisted on positioning the school as a "teaching university" rather than the trendier "research university."

After Premier-designate Liu Chao-shiuan takes office May 20, many wonder how far he will go in opening the doors to China, what industrial policy will look like, and how big a role the government will play in managing the country.

At this point, nobody knows the answer for sure, but based on Liu's past record, he will be endlessly creative and generate a fresh approach, whether or not people agree with him.

When Liu headed the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), he devised the "Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center" concept and guided the construction of the second terminal at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now renamed Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport). He was also deeply involved in charting the 12 major infrastructure projects that President-elect Ma Ying-jeou touted during his campaign as essential to revive domestic demand.

During the past eight years when the Kuomintang (KMT) was out of power, Liu built strong connections with the ethnic Chinese scientific community. Aside from promoting closer trade, economic and political ties with China, many observers anticipate he will open a new chapter in Taiwan's development through high-tech and basic infrastructure.

Constant Creativity

The slimly built 65-year-old Liu, whose most noticeable feature is the big set of eyeglasses that accentuates his face, carries himself confidently and speaks in a methodical and organized manner. Liu's scholarly appearance and style of conversation show no trace of the elusive and insincere nature one might expect of a long-time government official. A lifelong writer of tales of chivalry, he has a particular sense of honor.

Eight years ago when the KMT fell out of power, Liu, the good friend of former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (whose backing of Chen Shui-bian was considered a key factor in the Democratic Progressive Party candidate's victory), had a chance to assume an important post.

Instead, he followed defeated KMT candidate Lien Chan and became the deputy convener of the party's reform committee, quietly pushing to revamp the KMT's internal framework. Together with like-minded reformers, Liu pushed through an "anti-corruption clause," put the KMT's assets in trust, recruited young people to join the party, and mandated that the party chairman be directly elected.

"You have to have class — as a person and on the job," he once said. "If you don't have class, you don't have anything."

Lofty, Proud

Liu's upbringing helps explain both his sense of honor and proud nature, which some describe as conceit. Innately intelligent and raised by a strict mother, he attended the best schools. During his high school days, after lowering the country's flag for the day and with darkness approaching, he and his friends would ride their bicycles to a book-rental shop to read novels, especially stories of chivalrous martial arts heroes.

The sons of an Air Force general, Liu and his five brothers earned PhDs in science and engineering. Two of his brothers have also reached prominence in their respective fields and are well known in Taiwan. Chao-han Liu is vice president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's most prestigious research institute, while C.K. Liu is the chairman of TECO Electric and Machinery Co., one of Taiwan's biggest conglomerates with interests ranging from motors and home appliances to industrial equipment.

Their mother, who graduated from a teacher's college, strictly monitored the education of her sons from the time they were young, putting a special emphasis on Chinese classical studies. That's why Liu is accomplished in the classics, even though his main academic focus was the sciences. During their summer and winter breaks from school, Liu and his brothers would have to produce a page of formal calligraphy every day and repeat from memory lessons taught by their mother. As they grew older, their mother had them write essays that she herself critiqued and revised.

They memorized works by famous authors from the 1930s, and by the time they reached high school, their mother invited scholars learned in the classics to tutor them. This explains why Liu often recites ancient poetry and uses a calligraphy brush to sign off on government documents, and has the ability to pull literary allusions out of nowhere to make a point.

Putting His Knowledge to Work

As a high school student, Liu entered the world of work, by writing – not only essays, but also strange and magical novels of chivalry, full of imagination and mystery. His very first book made waves in martial arts fiction publishing circles.

His study of the classics and penning of chivalrous tales shaped Liu into an accomplished storyteller, a skill that has helped him throughout his political career. Liu's ability to communicate with different circles of society enables him to understand the concerns of others and defuse any resistance they might have. His wife, Chien Ming-sai, even says that when Liu retells a film he has seen, his narrative is often more entertaining than the movie itself.

Wherever Liu goes, he arrives like a fresh whirlwind, his style lucid and lively. The first time he joined the Cabinet as vice chairman of the National Science Council, he successfully fought to have the science budget separated from other general appropriations, enabling the council's funding to increase dramatically. As minister of transportation and communications, Liu created the blueprint for the Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center and planned out a number of BOT (build, operate and transfer) projects, hoping to swiftly transform the country by encouraging private participation in public infrastructure projects, including freeways, the high-speed railway, ports, and harbors. Consequently, today Taiwan has the high-speed railway, achieved through private-sector participation.

For Liu to escape from the MOTC unscathed and be promoted to vice premier testifies to his integrity. Liu's two predecessors, Clement C.P. Chang and Eugene Chien, were both forced out of their posts after facing allegations of involvement in corruption scandals at the ministry, known for its complicated, tightly interconnected network of interests. Liu, on the other hand, emerged with a reputation for being incorruptible and as someone who is careful and understands how to protect himself so that he is not dragged down by others.

At the time, he was often asked what his ultimate goal was. He answered that he had long given up pondering that question, because the more one thought about it, the more perplexed one was likely to become. His hope, he said, was to make a contribution that was to everyone's benefit in whatever position he held.

The last thing he wanted to see, he once noted, was that he "had worked in a place and did not make a bit of difference."

Contributing in a way that benefits everyone gives Liu his ultimate sense of accomplishment. During his term as transportation and communications minister, for example, when he decided to liberalize the telecom market, he adopted a phased-in approach that first delivered lower telephone rates and mobile phones to consumers. Only after that did he push the privatization of the then government monopoly Chunghwa Telecom, to minimize the impact of the move.

He strongly believes in fully grasping trends so that the job is done right the first time.

When he was overseeing the renovation and expansion of Kaohsiung port and Kaohsiung International Airport while serving as transportation minister, he told a group of officials at the Kaohsiung airport: "Chinese people always do a job twice. The first time, they do a project on a grand scale, but sometimes it fails because people are unable to accept it. But once it becomes fashionable and is repeated a second time, people take to it readily. Truly intelligent people take advantage of the situation and existing trends to make the first job look like it's the second one, in a way that everyone can accept."

Because the MOTC is the government agency most likely to be entangled with moneyed interests, Liu knew he would face considerable pressure from legislators acting to benefit themselves.

"I will use all my strength to resist private pressure from elected representatives. I will resist to the very end. If it comes to a point where I can no longer hold on, I'll leave," Liu once declared to Taiwan's legislature.

Proud but Not Solitary

Some have criticized Liu for being conceited and for his philosophy of always trying to triumph over others. He admits that he knew he had such a flaw by the time he was 12 or 13, because his teachers criticized him for it.

"But the result was that I always won. I couldn't very well lose on purpose to prove that I didn't have the ambition of beating out others," said Liu in an interview with CommonWealth Magazine just after taking over the reins at the MOTC 15 years ago, his tone still reflecting the high regard he has for himself.

Yet while Liu may seem conceited, he is not a solitary player.

He has close ties with KMT honorary chairman Lien Chan, President-elect Ma Ying-jeou and Vice President-elect Vincent Siew, and even stronger bonds with his former subordinates Chi-kuo Mao and Ou Chin-der. His many years in public service have humbled him considerably, as was evident during his tenure as vice premier from 1997-2000 when he rarely spoke, observing the proper decorum for a deputy. But when a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit central Taiwan on September 21, 1999, he was sent to the disaster area in Taichung County and immediately began relief work to help the victims while also defending the government's actions.

In Liu's world of chivalrous tales, one of his favorite types of characters is the martial arts hero who lives incognito and completely out of view, secluded from the outside world posing as an ordinary person. But forced to respond to changing circumstances, the martial arts master springs to life with unparalleled skill.

Liu will face huge challenges after taking office May 20, including deep divisions in public opinion, the central government's financial woes, the lack of a new industry that can revitalize economic growth, the high expectations people have for the new government, and liberalizing Taiwan's China policy without compromising the country's sovereignty. In leading his new team, Liu will have to deliver results quickly, a true test of his political acumen and "unparalleled skill."

Translated from the Chinese by Luke Sabatier


Chinese Version: 劉兆玄:沒格調,就什麼都沒了

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