Chairwoman of the Fair Trade CommissionChao Yang-ching

The Fair Trade Commission is one of the youngest cabinet-level agencies, having been established only in January of 1992. The public is perhaps not very clear about the functions and responsibilities of the FTC, but they probably do have a deep impression of several prominent cases that made the newspapers, in which chairperson Chao Yang-ching punished 12 pyramid schemes, dealt with the cable TV battle between major financial groups, and more.

The FTC has established its reputation and authority through these major cases, and today the business community is more attentive to whether their marketing approaches violate the law. Ordinary citizens now also think of turning to the FTC when they have a dispute with business.

One good example is the beauty and weight-loss industry, a focus of constant disputes. Chao Yang-ching recently delivered a speech on the subject of "'Breast size from A to D, Weight loss fast and easy'-Weight loss and beauty advertising and sales behavior." She reminded the public of the pitfalls of the health and beauty industry and of the role of the FTC. This speech, which covered complex issues, was delivered in an accessible way and was very well received.

The scope of issues covered and the complexity of the economic behaviors under FTC jurisdiction are daunting. But, Chao emphasizes, the main duty can be simply stated: to build a good system. In the past the government strongly promoted the idea of reconstructing government, and in the legal system reconstruction work team, the FTC proposed a number of reform bills. For example, the intersecting subsidies law set norms so that Chunghwa Telecom could not use predatory pricing to monopolize the mobile phone market. Over these few years, the FTC has been working hard to eliminate unnecessary government controls, in order to encourage fair market competition.

In recent years, attention has increasingly focused on "competition policy" (policy that affects the degree of free competition in the marketplace). The FTC has actively participated in various international exchanges in order to learn the legislative experience of the advanced countries and keep a firm grasp on trends in this area. Moreover, Chao reached agreements with Australia and New Zealand to create bilateral "competition law cooperation agreements" in order to fight back against non-competitive behavior internationally, and to maintain a rational competitive market. She has promoted international cooperation step-by-step, and after Australia and New Zealand the next partners are the US and Canada. Moreover, she visited Europe in the second half of last year.

Another successful international exchange program of the FTC has been the completion within two years of the APEC competition policy data bank. It includes information on the 22 APEC member nations and has attracted attention from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which monitors competition policies in the European Community. There are hopes of becoming an observer member of the OECD committee on competition policy.

Chao Yang-ching began to attract media attention in the early 1990s, when she became vice director of the Department of the National Treasury (DNT) in the Ministry of Finance. At the time the country was already running into financial difficulties, and social welfare expenditures were growing rapidly. Based on her solid financial and tax background and her incredible ability with figures, she came to serve as the gate-keeper. In 1995, she became the first female director of the DNT, and within less than half a year she was named as director of the FTC.

Shirley Kuo, a former minister of finance (who was also the ROC's first ever woman minister), has said of Chao that she can keep five years of statistical tables in her head. Many people are curious where this incredible facility with numbers has come from. Chao credits her mother. When she was small, Chao was not very studious, and she frequently came close to failing her math exams. Her mother therefore asked her teacher to call upon her in class every day to do math drills. Chao had little choice but to keep at her mother to teach her, and unwittingly she developed a real interest in the subject. In university she entered the department of accounting and statistics at Tamkang University. She recalls, "numbers became a language for me." Chao, who is known to be very friendly and approachable, has taught her methods to more than a few reporters, and they are said to come in very handy.

Aside from her work at the FTC, she feels that her main expertise is still in tax systems. When former minister of finance Wang Chien-shien promoted the "two taxes into one" program, she was a key staff person. And it is said that the adjustment of the tax rate and the improvement of the tax rate structure was entirely in Chao's hands.

With such a dedicated work ethic, naturally Chao has had little time for a personal life. She remains unmarried. Chao herself is very satisfied with the status quo. She sees it as simply being able to have a longer and more fruitful relationship with her parents. In addition, her older brother and younger sister live nearby. Every day when she goes home she still has food made by her mom to eat. She considers herself exceptionally lucky.

Chao Yang-ching has demanding standards, but is quite generous in dealing with others. She often talks to her colleagues at the FTC one-on-one to understand their thoughts and feelings. The result is that there is a great sense of team spirit in her agency, reflected in the fact that they usually do exceptionally well in the Executive Yuan sports meet.

Looking to the future, Chao says that there is still much to do. There is a need to strengthen law enforcement to create a better overall environment for fair competition. She wants to help business to create self-regulating norms, to encourage law-abiding behavior and avoid unwitting violations.

In the next century the new barons of industry will be cable TV, communications, e-commerce, and information technology. It is necessary to establish competitive norms for them as quickly as possible. The world of the future will be one of high-speed competition, in which the consumer will be king. It looks like this Iron Lady who has a way with numbers will be even busier.