Ex-KMT vice-chairman remembered as positive force

The former vice-chairman of the Kuomintang, Chiang Pin-kung, who died in Taipei on Monday, was a contributor to cross-Straits relations in helping Taiwan people conduct business on the mainland, experts said.

Born in 1932, Chiang was elected as vice-chairman of the KMT in 2003. He also served as the former chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation and former vice-president of the Taiwan-based Council of the Summit for Business People Across the Taiwan Straits. Founded in 1990, the SEF is authorized to handle cross-Straits affairs on the island. The mainland counterpart is the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), which was founded in 1991.

Having majored in economics at school, Chiang earned his doctorate in agricultural economics at Tokyo University in 1971. He then worked in the island's economics and trade departments.