Yeh Kuang-shih (; born 1957 in Hualien) is a Taiwanese politician and

management scientist Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications from 18 February 2013 until 9 January 2015, and one of the three deputy mayors of Kaohsiung within the municipal administration of

Han Kuo-yu Daniel Han Kuo-yu (; born 17 June 1957) is a Taiwanese politician. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1993 to 2002, representing a portion of Taipei County for three terms. He later became general manager of Taipei Agricultural Produc ...

from 25 December 2018 to 12 June 2020.

Early life

Yeh Kuang-shih was born in

Hualien City Hualien City (; Wade-Giles: Hua¹-lien² Shih⁴; Hokkien POJ: ''Hoa-lian-chhī'' or ''Hoa-liân-chhī'') is a county-administered city and the county seat of Hualien County, Taiwan. It is located on the east coast of Taiwan on the Pacific Oce ...

in 1957. His parents are immigrants from

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He graduated from

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 ...

with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1979. He then obtained a master's degree in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

in 1984, and a PhD in

organization theory Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 1990.

Academic career

Yeh was a professor at

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

in Department of Business Administration from 1991 to 2015. He has more than 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has written several books on business administration. After resigning from his post as the Minister of Transportation and Communications in 2015, Yeh left Sun Yat-sen University for the Graduate Institute of Technology Innovation & Intellectual Property Management at

National Chengchi University National Chengchi University () is a public research university in Taipei. The university is also considered as the earliest public service training facility of the Republic of China. First established in Nanjing in 1927, the university was subs ...

. He retired in 2018.

Political career

Deputy Minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission

Yeh served as the Deputy Minister of the

Research, Development and Evaluation Commission The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC; ) was a branch of the Executive Yuan of the Taiwan (ROC). The commission was responsible for policy research and development, policy planning, policy supervision and evaluation, government ...

from 2008 to 2009. During his time he participated in the Organizational Reform of Executive Yuan.

Political Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications

From 2009 to 2013 Yeh served as the Political Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications. During this time, he instituted

Taoyuan International Airport Corporation Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC; ) is a government-owned corporation responsible for the management of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. It is a company based in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China, established on November 1, 2 ...

, the operator of the

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is an international airport serving Taipei and northern Taiwan. Located about west of Taipei in Dayuan District, Taoyuan, the airport is Taiwan's largest. It was also the busiest airport in Taiwan before t ...

, and served as the first chairman.

Minister of Transportation and Communications

After Premier Sean Chen stepped down in 2013, Yeh replaced

Mao Chi-kuo Mao Chi-kuo (; born 4 October 1948 in Fenghua, Chekiang) is a Taiwanese politician, who served as the Premier, the President of Executive Yuan from 2014 to 2016. Early life Mao was born on 4 October 1948, in Fenghua, Chekiang Province. Mao ...

as the Minister of Transportation and Communications.

2013 Nantou earthquake

Right after an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

struck Taiwan on 27 March 2013, Yeh ordered all officials within the ministry departments to conduct checks on any damage caused by the earthquake.

Taoyuan International Airport MRT delay

Commenting on the completion delay of Taoyuan International Airport MRT in mid April 2013, Yeh said that he hoped that the line can be opened somewhere before October 2014, after the ROC Ministry of Transportation and Communications had postponed it from its original June 2013 official launch. He added that the delay is caused by the MRT electromechanical systems in which it is still currently being worked out by the appointed contractor. In early May 2013 during a session at the Transportation Committee of the

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 ...

, Yeh became the target of heavy criticism due to the ongoing delay of the airport MRT completion, even the

DPP DPP may stand for: Business *Digital Production Partnership, of UK public service broadcasters * Direct Participation Program, a financial security * Discounted payback period Photography * Digital Photo Professional, Canon software Law en ...

asked Yeh to resign as his responsibility of the delay. Yeh responded by stating that he had already questioned the train signaling system contractor legitimacy and the tender process in choosing the contractors. He added that any dispute regarding the tender and bidding process had long been officially closed since the investigator could not find anything illegal. However, he promised to further submit all of the information found to prosecutor for further investigation.

ROC first casino

After 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. ...

approval in early May 2013 in establishing ROC first

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, Yeh said that ROC government considers that the casino will be established in

Lienchiang The Matsu Islands ( or , ; Foochow Romanized: Mā-cū liĕk-dō̤), officially Lienchiang County (, ; Foochow Romanized: Lièng-gŏng-gâing), are an archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea governed by the Republic of Chi ...

Fukien Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

, not in Taiwan Island. He expected that the casino resort will house the casino, hotel, convention and other facilities. The casino resort is expected to be established in 2019 the earliest.

Resignation

On January 7, 2015, which happens to be Yeh's birthday, Yeh resigned after failure to secure support from his party to Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation’s (THSRC) financial restructuring plan. The plan was perceived by some lawmakers to benefit the investors more than the public, or unnecessary because THSRC is not in imminent danger to go bankrupt, or the government should let the corp go bankrupt. A modified version of the financial restructuring plan was passed later that year. Later that year, he became an adviser to

Hung Hsiu-chu Hung Hsiu-chu (; born 7 April 1948) is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), she has served the party as a Deputy Chairperson and Deputy Secretary-General. Hung was first elected to the legislature in 1990, and was the Vi ...

's presidential campaign. Hung was eventually replaced by

Eric Chu Eric Chu Li-luan (; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician. He was born into a political family with strong Kuomintang (KMT) ties, and served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China, under Premier Wu Den-yih. Prior to this, Chu served ...

to represent the party in the election.

Deputy mayor of Kaohsiung

Yeh was appointed deputy mayor of Kaohsiung in December 2018 by

, serving alongside

Lee Shu-chuan Lee Shu-chuan (; born 1 February 1958) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the deputy mayor of Kaohsiung from 25 December 2018 to 12 June 2020. He previously served in multiple positions within the Taipei County Government, and was Secretary-Gene ...

and

Chen Hsiung-wen Chen Hsiung-wen () or Sherman Chen is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Minister of Labor from 20 August 2014 until 20 May 2016. Early life and education Chen earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering and master's degree in environmen ...

. He mainly focused on policies related to economic development, transportation, tourism, culture, and education. The appointment ended in June 2020 after the recall of mayor Han.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeh, Kuang-shih Taiwanese Ministers of Transportation and Communications Living people Carnegie Mellon University alumni Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Hualien County 1957 births Academic staff of the National Sun Yat-sen University National Taiwan University alumni University of Delaware alumni Deputy mayors of Kaohsiung