On June 8, in response to an official invitation from Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, Premier Yu Kuo-hwa of the ROC led a team of several cabinet members on a visit to that nation.

Prime Minister Lee personally met the delegation at the airport. Although the ROC and Singapore do not have formal diplomatic relations, this was an extraordinarily courteous gesture. The two sides then proceeded with discussions of economic, trade, technical, and other questions.

Although there was no joint statement, many speculate that both sides will include mutually beneficial programs in future planning. Queried on this point, Premier Yu would only contentedly say, "I believe that this trip was extremely satisfactory." One reporter commented that this was a "beautiful start" to Yu's fourth year.

Yu first was asked to organize the cabinet in 1984. Prior to that he had served as Finance Minister, Chairman of the Committee for Economic Construction, and as Director of the Central Bank for over fourteen years. He is one of the ROC's most important economic strategists.

One newspaper editorial has commented that Yu has been both unfortunate and fortunate to have served for these last three turbulent years. On the one hand, the pace of political, economic, and social change has been extremely rapid, even chaotic. On the other hand, this situation presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for affecting the fate of the nation.

Politically, there has been a rapid series of developments including the announcement of the imminent lifting of martial law (raising in turn concerns about national security after martial law); the lifting of restrictions on newspapers; and the allowance of the establishment of new political parties.

Economically, there have been the challenges of rising protectionism and of how to skillfully negotiate in order to protect the interests of domestic producers overseas; and of how to move toward internationalization and liberalization domestically.

Socially, the coming of wealth has been accompanied by new values, (like environmental consciousness), shifts in the working class, the appearance of the "self-help" thinking, and other phenomena of modernization.

In the last three years, Premier Yu has resolved several long-standing problems. One example is the value added tax, which had been under discussion for ten-odd years. Its implementation over the last year and a half has gone smoothly. Other examples include opening up of trading in gold, eliminating the slaughter tax, and lowering import tariffs.

Although Yu's image is primarily that of an economic strategist, his concerns are much broader. Evidence includes his plan at the National Conference on Administration to place greater emphasis on advanced software; the use of a large amount of money to promote local education, health, and welfare; and the effort to diagnose and clean up the Tamsui River.

Premier Yu has received much praise. Appraisals of his term in office got better every year until by his third anniversary they were overwhelmingly favorable. As Global Views Monthly noted, Premier Yu has matured greatly and is now more able to show his governing ability.

Yet, Premier Yu is neither in speech nor in style the type who would become a "media darling." One reporter has said: "Although he has many political accomplishments, he always plays them down himself. If one does not observe him for a long time, it is hard to realize how much he really gets done."

Premier Yu has an image of being rather serious. A reporter for the United Daily News wrote that "A public person's public image is quite different from personal contact. . ." and said that the Premier "also has his witty, humorous side." When asked why he remained so cool when under fire from opposition legislators in the Legislative Yuan, he responded that only the head of that Yuan, Ni Wen-ya, can afford to lose his temper during a session, because "he's the only one with the gavel."

Premier Yu sincerely believes, to return to a serious note, that if one wants progress, one must have change. And in the process of change, problems will occur. The people often want many things, not all of which can be realized together or at once. "We must have patience," says the Premier. Looking at the next three years, he says, "People's demands on the government will continue to increase. . . We are striving every year to solve old problems, and still there are new ones. It will never stop."

[Picture Caption]

In June, Premier Yu visited Singapore where he held talks with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The mass media called Yu's Singapore trip his best performance in his 3 years as Premier. He is shown in this picture, accompanied by GIO direct or Yu-ming Shaw, talking with the Speaker of Singapore's Parliament, Yang Ch'in-cheng.

Looking forward to the future, Yu notes that the demands of the people on the government are constantly increasing, and that new problems arise even while the old ones are still being worked on.(photo by Chung Yung-ho)

Meeting a younger friend, Premier Yu happily stoops over to chat.

Premier Yu, in the company of now Vice- Premier Lien Chan (who was Minister of Communications at the time of the photo) getting a first-hand report of progress on Taipei's mass transit system.

Premier and Mrs. Yu stop for a photo with fellow visitors to "Window on China".