On June 16, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te appointed six new presidential advisors, the most notable of which was Su Chun-huai, father of AMD CEO Lisa Su and chairman of the Taiwan Center in New York. The other five appointees were Lin Hong-dao, chairman of the National Training Center; Wu Yun-dong, ambassador-at-large; Wu Shu-min, chairman of the Taiwan Medical Alliance Foundation; as well as Huang Yueh-sui and Fan Chen-hsiu, who were reassigned from their previous roles as National Policy Advisors. In the same announcement, 12 new National Policy Advisors were also appointed, including renowned forensic expert Kao Ta-cheng, Farglory Group Chairman Wu Pao-tien, and Chinese Taipei Sports Federation President Yeh Cheng-yen. By law, the president can appoint no more than 30 presidential advisors and no more than 90 national policy advisors, all of which are unpaid positions. The previous term ended on May 19 of this year.
Su Chun-huai was born in Tainan. He graduated from National Taiwan Normal University with a degree in mathematics, earned a master’s degree in mathematics from National Tsing Hua University, and then went to the United States to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Columbia University. Having lived in New York for decades, he has been active in local Taiwanese community groups and overseas diaspora circles. He has long been considered a “Lai fan” and has attended several dinners during Lai Ching-te’s visits to the U.S. On May 24 of this year, he ran for and won the election as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party’s Eastern U.S. chapter. The fact that AMD CEO Lisa Su holds a pivotal position in the semiconductor industry has drawn particular outside attention to her father’s appointment.