The Executive Yuan announced today that its spokesperson, Cheng Li-wun, had resigned due to personal career plans, and the position will be filled by Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Vice Chairperson Sun Lih-chyun.
Sun graduated from the University of Michigan (U.S.A.) with a Ph. D in agricultural economics and has extensive work experience across industry, academia and the public sector. He has taught as an adjunct associate professor at National Chung Hsing University and associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics of National Taiwan University and served as convener of the public policy committee of the Consumers' Foundation, Chinese Taipei; advisor for the Taipei City Government; member of both the National Council for Sustainable Development and the former Directorate-General of Telecommunications' third-generation (3G) mobile phone service planning committee; commissioner of the FTC during its seventh session; and FTC vice chairperson.
Sun has demonstrated his capabilities throughout his service at the FTC, the Executive Yuan stated. Cases he handled there included illegal limitation of iPhone resale prices by Apple, use of fraudulent consumer testimonies by Samsung to compete with rivals, joint monopolistic practices by nine independent power producers, and the first application for utilization of the leniency policy, which offers lighter punishments to firms which quickly and voluntarily admit wrongdoing.
As FTC spokesperson, Sun established a communication mechanism with other ministries and government agencies and worked closely with their spokespersons to respond quickly to public concerns in order to provide accurate information for the press and cement cross-ministry collaboration. He maintained close relations with the media, and his job performance was widely recognized among private consumer protection groups. The Executive Yuan reiterated that Sun is well-qualified to be the Executive Yuan's spokesperson and the head of the Office of Information Services.