President Group chairman Kao Chin-yuan has won a second three-year term as the head of Taiwan's largest business organisation - the China National Federation of Industries (CNFI).
Yesterday's election produced a hotly contested race for CNFI director seats.
The victory secured Mr Kao's status as the leading spokesman for the island's industry and should ensure his re-election as a member of the standing committee of the ruling Kuomintang, which has close links to the CNFI.
Much of the high interest in the triennial CNFI election was generated by the entry into the race of Chinatrust Commercial Bank chairman Jeffrey Koo Lien-sung .
Mr Koo is a nephew of industrialist and Strait Exchange Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu , who founded the Koo Family Group, based on the Taiwan Cement Corp.
Industry sources say Mr Koo, who now chairs the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, ran as a representative of the cement industry association.
Mr Koo made a strong effort to gain election as a executive director to lay the groundwork for an attempt to run for the position of CNFI chairman - and indirectly the KMT central standing committee slot - when Mr Kao's term expires in 2000.
