During a tea party at the Office of the President today, outgoing Premier Sean Chen described his life journey as marvelous, wonderful and full of surprises. He earned a law degree from National Taiwan University but never engaged in judiciary work. Instead he began in the financial sector before entering politics, and was later appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou to serve as premier.
"Over the past year, the world was mired in economic woes and Taiwan had many challenges of its own, but I believe things will turn for the better as we move into the year ahead," remarked the premier.
Chen said the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research reported that Taiwan's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) increased 6.4 percentage points in January to 57.7 percent from the month before. Taiwan was also the only Asian Tiger that enjoyed PMI growth for two consecutive months.
Indicators from other locations show easing in the global downturn as well, Chen said. In January, Chicago's PMI reached 55.6 percent, a nine-month high, while the Markit Eurozone Composite PMI advanced 1 percentage point from December to 48.2 percent.
Last year at a time when the economy seemed particularly gloomy, Premier Chen encouraged President Ma with a quote by Theodore Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena." People may critique and blame the government, said Chen, but Roosevelt had the right attitude in that famous speech 103 years ago.
Chen said President Ma responded with words from the eminent Qing-dynasty official Zeng Guofan: "Shouting and criticizing from the outside serve no use; one must go inside and take up responsibility if anything is to be achieved."
Today, Premier Chen had words of encouragement for his successor, Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah, who also comes from a non-political background. Jiang has been a member of the Cabinet since 2008 and was tapped this week to be the next premier. His challenges are about to begin, said Chen.
It has been commented in the media that Vice Premier Jiang and President Ma have many qualities in common, the premier said. If this is true, it is because both typify the "man in the arena"—people who possess courage, perseverance and professional ability. Chen is confident that Jiang and his new Cabinet will leave no stone unturned to promote national development and improve the economy, because it is the government's goal and responsibility to do so.