Vincent Siew

Vincent C. Siew or Siew Wan-chang (born 3 January 1939) is a Taiwanese politician who served as the Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2012.

He was the first Taiwanese-born Premier of the Republic of China and former vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT).

Born in Chiayi City in the then Japanese colony of Taiwan on 3 January 1939, Siew graduated from Chiayi High School in 1957.

In 1961, he graduated from the Department of Diplomacy at National Chengchi University (NCCU).

After completing his conscription, he passed the Foreign Affairs Special Examination of 1962.

He subsequently received his master's degree from the Graduate Institute of International Law and Diplomacy from NCCU in 1965.

Although he was accepted by Harvard University, Siew chose to remain in Taiwan heeding his mother's wishes.

In April 1966, he was appointed as vice consul at the ROC Consulate-General in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and promoted as consul in 1969, a position he held until 1972.

During his office term, he built close relationship between Taiwan and the governments and people of Malaysia and Singapore.

He also successfully negotiated the establishment of the Trade Mission of the Republic of China in Singapore and its counterpart Singapore Trade Office in Taipei.

After the switch of China seat at the United Nations on 25 October 1971 from Republic of China (ROC) to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and amid massive changes within the international community, Siew determined to return to Taiwan.

Once home, he became a section chief at the Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

He then joined the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the MOFA in 1972 which he rose from an inspector, department director until deputy director-general.

He used to travel frequently between Taiwan and the United States (US) for bilateral trade agreement negotiation until the US switched diplomatic relations from ROC to PRC on 1 January 1979.

He completed a leadership seminar at Georgetown University in the United States in 1982 and was awarded Eisenhower Fellowships in 1985.

In January 1982, he became the director-general of BOFT.

During his office term, he worked towards simplifying laws and regulations, and also strengthening personnel management at the BOFT.

To reduce the trade surplus between Taiwan and the US, he led trade missions to cover almost all US states as part of a campaign that drew considerable attention.

He also participated in a number of additional trade missions to major trading nations to enhance economic and trade relations and resolve trade disputes.

He vigorously promoted trade liberalization and globalization.

He also authorized banks to process import-export permits, promoted professional training and introduced a rotating system for economic and trade representatives stationed outside Taiwan.

As a member of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), he was named to the Central Committee of KMT in July 1988.

With the appointment of new Premier on 1 June 1990, Siew was appointed as Minister of Economic Affairs.

His appointment came at a time of problems with environment, stagnant investment and slow economic growth.

Within six months, he managed to settle a five-year dispute with environmentalists that had been blocking Chinese Petroleum Corporation's construction of a fifth naphtha cracker plant.

He also settled a yen-year dispute between local government and a community over the construction of Changbin Industrial Park.

Moreover, he succeeded in persuading Formosa Plastics Corp to invest in a major construction project, the sixth naphtha cracker plant in Yunlin County.

He also overcame a legislative freeze of the budget of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant in Taipei County.

During his overall office term in the ministry, Siew promoted major investment programs, removed investment barriers, enhanced investment incentives and initiated the privatization of such state enterprises as China Steel, BES Engineering and China Petrochemical Development.

He also eased government controls on cross-strait trade and investments.

He led a delegation to Europe, Central America and South America to explore opportunities for international economic and trade cooperation which also contributed to the promotion of trade diplomacy.

In November 1991, Siew represented ROC, under the name Chinese Taipei, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held in Seoul, South Korea.

In November 1992, he again represented Chinese Taipei for APEC in Bangkok, Thailand.

After a series of negotiations, he managed to secure ROC, under the name Chinese Taipei, as an observer member.

Siew was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1996 to 1997.

He was the KMT vice-presidential candidate in 2000 on the ticket of Lien Chan.

He resigned as KMT vice chairman and all other posts in the party before the legislative election in December 2004.

He was criticised by the Pan-Blue Coalition for not taking a greater role in the Lien-Soong campaign and acting as convener for a private group of economic advisers for President Chen Shui-bian.

Siew is the former chairman of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (Siew submitted his resignation 24 June 2007 after his KMT vice-presidential nomination) and the incumbent Chairman of the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation.

His efforts helped build Taiwan's very substantial foreign-exchange reserves and made Taiwan the world's 13th largest trading nation.