Eric Wu (; born 14 July 1953) is a Taiwanese business executive and politician.
Education and early career
Wu obtained a bachelor's degree in law from
National Taiwan University, and continued his legal studies at
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
while earning a master's in business administration from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Wu became a lawyer in New York before returning to Taiwan, where he taught at
Soochow University and led the , a subsidiary of
Taishin Financial Holdings
Taishin Financial is a financial services company headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Taishin Financial Holdings consists of subsidiaries in the sectors of banking, securities, bills finance, assets management, and venture capital.
The company's ...
, as chairman.
Wu retained his business leadership positions while serving on the Legislative Yuan. Wu's elder brothers
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
and
Eugene
Eugene may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...
are also businessmen. Eric Wu's sister Wu Ju-yueh is the eldest of his siblings. For a time, Eric Wu rented the residence of entrepreneur Chiang A-hsin, and established the Chin Kuang Fu Foundation in 1995 to maintain the property.
Political career
Wu was elected to the second
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...
from Hsinchu County as a member of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
, serving from 1993 to 1996.
He subsequently sat on the third convocation of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
, between 1996 and 2000.
Wu was expelled from the Kuomintang in October 2001, after accepting a legislative nomination from the
Taiwan Solidarity Union
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) is a political party in Taiwan which advocates Taiwan independence, and is affiliated with the Taiwanese localization movement. It was officially founded on 12 August 2001 and is considered part of the Pan-Gr ...
earlier that year. He won election as a party list member of the Legislative Yuan in December 2001. A month into his second term as legislator, the TSU nominated Wu to join the ROC-US Parliamentary Amity Association. He participated in overseas trips to Russia and Japan to further Taiwan's bilateral foreign relations. As a legislator with extensive business experience, Wu frequently commented on trade, economics, and industry. In June 2002, Wu explained that he and the TSU were not opposed to the
three links between Taiwan and China. Rather, the party simply sought the continued implementation of
Chen Shui-bian's "no haste, be patient" policy. In July 2003, he warned against Chinese investment in Taiwan, stating that Cross-Strait capital should be monitored to prevent politically motivated economic manipulation. As the
2003 SARS outbreak
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
hit Taiwan, Wu and fellow TSU members
Liao Pen-yen
Liao Pen-yen (; born 26 September 1956) is a Taiwanese politician who served two terms in the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008.
Education
Liao graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University with a degree in business management.
Political career
...
,
Lo Chih-ming
Lo Chih-ming (; born 13 November 1957) is a Taiwanese politician who served in the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008.
Education
Lo attended National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan before earning a master's degree from St. Cloud State Un ...
,
Huang Chung-yuan
Huang Chung-yuan (; born 14 December 1950) is a Taiwanese politician. He was a member of the Taiwan Solidarity Union for most of his two-term stint in the Legislative Yuan and served the party as its acting chairman from December 2004 to January ...
, and
Huang Cheng-che formed a working group to confront the issue.
Fredrick Chien consulted Wu, among several others, when asked to form a committee to probe the
3-19 shooting incident
The March 19 shooting incident (), also known as the 319 incident, was an assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of ...
, which injured Chen Shui-bian and
Annette Lu. In October 2004, Wu withdrew from consideration as a TSU candidate for the legislative elections planned in December, and consequently was not nominated for another term. Weeks before his second Legislative Yuan term ended, Wu considered attending the
second inauguration of US President George W. Bush.
Later business career
In August 2004, Thomas Wu was elected by the board of directors of Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corporation to serve as company chairman. Their mother made it known that she preferred Eric take the position, and asked Thomas to step down. Eric and his mother contested Thomas's election, because members of the board were to be reselected prior to the vote that installed Thomas as chairman. As the chairmanship dispute unfolded, Eric and Thomas Wu were investigated by the
Financial Supervisory Commission on suspicions of insider trading. In November 2004, the conflict was resolved. Thomas yielded the chairmanship of Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corporation to Eric, and was named to the same position at Taishin Financial Holdings. In turn, Eric ceded his proxy votes on the Taishin Financial board to Thomas. The FSC ruled in December 2004 that there were no financial gains, and therefore no insider trading, but that Taiwan Securities Company had not sought final approval to trade shares in Shinkong Synthetic Fibers.
As a result, Taiwan Securities Company was fined NT$2.5 million.
Additionally, Taishin Financial divested from Taishin Investment Trust, the latter of which was chaired by Eric.
Eric Wu attempted to diversify his holdings in later years, exploring the potential acquisition of
Taiwan Television Enterprise in December 2005, and bidding on in November 2007. In September 2009, the
Control Yuan
The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislative ...
voted to impeach prosecutor Lin Sheng-lin on charges of corruption. Lin had worked with Wu to establish a legal aid foundation, but was found to have extorted money, and divulged information pertinent to ongoing investigations.
Under Wu's leadership, Shinkong Synthetic Fibers pursued a 4G telecommunications license in 2013. This was followed in 2014 by an increased investment in a joint venture with
Invista
Invista (stylized as INVISTA), headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, is a fiber, resin and intermediates company. It has about 10,000 employees in over 20 countries worldwide. The predecessor DuPont Textiles and Interiors was formed fro ...
, as well as another investment valued at NT$3 billion, in TacBright Optronics Corp, a subsidiary of Shinkong Synthetic Fibers. In 2017, Wu planned to increase the production of engineering plastics made by Shinkong Synthetic Fibers.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Eric
1953 births
Living people
National Taiwan University alumni
New York (state) lawyers
Taiwan Solidarity Union Members of the Legislative Yuan
Members of the 2nd Legislative Yuan
Members of the 5th Legislative Yuan
Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan
Hsinchu County Members of the Legislative Yuan
Taiwanese chairpersons of corporations
20th-century Taiwanese lawyers
Soochow University (Taiwan) alumni
Taiwanese expatriates in the United States
Harvard Law School alumni
Expelled members of the Kuomintang
20th-century Taiwanese businesspeople
21st-century Taiwanese businesspeople
Businesspeople from Taipei
Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Taipei
Businesspeople in textiles
Taiwanese bankers
Harvard Business School alumni