Asia's Finance Minister of the Year: Wang the ascetic.

The article presents information on Taiwan's finance minister Wang Chien. His emphasis on speed has become a hallmark along with the crewcut. The talk in Taipei is that Wang's breakfast meetings are seldom an occasion at which to linger, with the Finance Minister tucking his morning sustenance away in five minutes. He agrees that the urge to do things quickly is a personal characteristic. The ability to act quickly was something Wang needed when he took office in May 1990. The Taiwan stock market was plunging, with the index falling 70% in six months. Plans to allow in foreign investment that had been tossed around for years had to be acted on swiftly. Wang knew that immediately on taking office people would be asking him how to cope with the daily slide. The measures he has taken to stabilize the market have won him much praise. Wang has not chosen to rely on one tool, but has addressed the problem in a number of ways. Wang is a popular politician, although he does not treat his office as a political one. In contrast to the 1960s and 1970s, when the Finance Ministry was a stepping stone to the premiership, Wang has played it as a technocratic role. INSET: In (and out) of contention..