Francis Liang or Liang Kuo-hsin (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 梁國新;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Liáng Guóxīn''; born 17 December 1951) is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

diplomat and former politician. He currently serves as the Representative of Taipei Representative Office in Singapore, a position he has held since 2016. Prior to this, Liang served as Vice Minister and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in 2009–2014, and chairman of the

Taiwan External Trade Development Council The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA; ) is a non-profit government co-sponsored trade promotion organization in Taiwan. It was founded in 1970 as China External Trade Development Council (CETRA). However, it changed its English ...

(TAITRA) from 2014 to 2016.

Education

Liang received his M.B.A. from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and his bachelor's degree in law from the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

. He also undertook postgraduate studies in law at the National Taiwan University.

Political career

Before holding the ministerial post in the MOEA, Liang has held several positions, such as Chief of Staff in the Vice Presidential Office, Head of economic division of the

Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), also known as Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), Taipei Representative Office (TRO) or Taipei Mission, is an alternative diplomatic institution serving as a ''de facto'' e ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and Deputy Director of Bureau of Foreign Trade of the MOEA. Since joining the government in 1978, Liang has held several key domestic and overseas positions in which he applied his expertise in international economic law and trade negotiations to promote Taiwan's economic development and expand the overseas markets for Taiwan's export sectors.

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs

During Liang's concurrent tenures as Vice Minister of Economic Affairs and Chief Trade Negotiator, and later as Deputy Minister, Liang played an instrumental role in the signing of the

Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is a free trade agreement (FTA) between the governments of the People's Republic of China (mainland China, PRC, commonly "China") and the Republic of China (ROC, commonly "Taiwan"), that aims ...

(ECFA) between China and Taiwan in 2010, a bilateral investment accord with Japan in 2011, the Cross-Straits Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement in 2012, an economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand (ANZTEC) and an economic partnership agreement with Singapore (ASTEP) in 2013. He also co-chaired the first three Regular Meetings of the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Committee as Chief Delegate from Taiwan, and actively promoted closer economic and trade relations with the US and the European Union. In recognition of Liang's achievements, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) conferred upon him the Medal of Economic Contribution, First Order, on February 13, 2014, making him the first government official ever to receive the honor.

Civil career

In February 2014, Liang tendered his resignation from the Ministry citing health reasons. He was later appointed as an adviser to the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

. In August that year, Liang was appointed the chairman of the

. Since then, Liang has led a team of over 1,200 trained specialists across its Taipei headquarter, 4 domestic branch offices and 60 overseas branch offices worldwide, organizing more than 300 overseas trade promotion events and 40 international trade shows each year.

Diplomatic career

Since December 2016, Liang served as the head of the Taipei Representative Office in Singapore to promote bilateral relations between Taiwan and Singapore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, Francis 1951 births Living people Representatives of Taiwan to Singapore University of Miami Business School alumni National Taiwan University alumni