Lin Yi-fu

Lin was born in 1942 and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and statistics from National Chengchi University in 1965.[1][2] The next year, he began working for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and served as trade representative to Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Canada.[3] In 1990, Lin was named deputy director-general of the Board of Foreign Trade. Lin assumed the leadership of the Board of Foreign Trade in 1995, serving two years until his appointment as administrative deputy minister of economic affairs. In 2000, Lin was promoted to the position of political deputy minister within the same ministry.[1]

Lin took office as Minister of Economic Affairs on 21 March 2002, after the resignation of Christine Tsung.[1] Lin was succeeded by Ho Mei-yueh in Chen Shui-bian's second term, but accepted an offer to stay on in the Executive Yuan as minister without portfolio in May.[3] As minister without portfolio, Lin was tasked with reviewing bills and projects related to finance and economics.[4] Lin tendered his resignation from the cabinet in January 2005,[5] and became Taiwan's representative to the World Trade Organization in May.[6][7] After taking office, he repeatedly called for the government to increase its participation in WTO initiatives,[8][9] and for the United States to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan.[10][11] During Lin's tenure as Taiwan's WTO representative, the Agency for International Trade Information and Co-operation granted Taiwan observer status for a two-year period, starting in 2007.[12]

Lin later became a board member of various Taiwanese companies, including Nan Ya Plastics, Taishin Financial Holdings, and Swissray Global Healthcare.[13]