Taipei, June 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday received Cisco Systems President and CEO John Chambers and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, respectively, at the Presidential Office.
Chen, who first met with Chambers, said he was very happy to receive the leader in Internet infrastructure development, who was recently named one of the world's most prominent CEOs by Fortune magazine. Under Chambers' leadership, Cisco Systems has been the fastest-growing company in the world, and Chambers fully deserves the title of "digital world leader," Chen noted.
Chen said that Chambers' success has a lot in common with his own administrative philosophy. He invited Chambers to be his personal technology adviser, which he said would allow him to learn from the executive's success and introduce a more entrepreneurial administrative culture to government agencies, sharpening their competitive edge.
Chen said while meeting with Chambers that his major philosophy in regards to running the country is as follows:
-- He tries to listen to the different voices of the people.
-- He is in favor of a government of all the people, because the success of a country lies in working together rather than in just one individual's efforts.
-- His goal is to transform Taiwan into a "green silicon island" by 2010 so that the island can be a pioneer of the world digital economy in the 21st century.
-- He will try to develop a spirit of partnership between the central and local governments, as well as between the government and the private sector.
Chambers also summed up his strategy for success. He told Chen that running Cisco has taught him that the customer should always come first, and that a firm should maintain a high level of quality as well as a loyal team. He added that his company constantly seeks to use new technologies to upgrade its competitiveness, and always has an eye on its strategy.
The Cisco Systems chief said he is very impressed by Taiwan's technological development, and voiced his willingness to set up a lifelong enterprise-government partnership with the ROC government to help Taiwan further develop its technology education.
Chambers presented a ceramic painting to Chen, and wished good health and prosperity to the Republic of China's new head of state and its people.
Chen described his meeting with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates as a kind of summit, noting a slogan of his presidential campaign -- "young leaders, world trend."
Chen said he had been criticized by his rivals for being too young to vie for the presidential post. Chen again dismissed such criticism, pointing out that Gates had established Microsoft at the tender age of 19.
Chen said in the meeting with Gates that any entity that wants to keep a competitive edge -- whether a government, an enterprise, or an individual -- must follow two principles: it must maintain a high degree of creativity and invention, and have the courage to face failure so as to quickly get rid of old burdens and move toward broader new horizons.
Thanking Chen for his time, Gates said Taiwan's choice of Chen as the nation's new leader is a very important development which carries a special significance.
Gates hailed the efforts made by ROC authorities to sponsor the 2000 World Congress on Information Technology currently being held in Taipei, and said the event provides a good opportunity for all information technology figures to exchange their opinions and seek out new partners.