Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Junior Chapter

In the 1990s, many Taiwanese businesspeople travelled afar to Southeast Asia to invest in businesses and to set up factories in response to the Southbound Policy stipulated by the former President of the Republic of China, Lee Teng-Hui. In the right space and time, the “Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce” was established in the year of 1993. Time has passed and circumstances have changed, it has been 24 years since its establishment. The ASTCC lived through many glorious moments in the Golden Ages, yet like many other enterprises, the ASTCC was also facing the challenges of succession. Many Junior Chapters across Asia have begun to come together one after another in response to the establishment of the “World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce - Junior Chapter” in 2010. After more than a year of hard work in recruiting and organizing relevant affairs, it finally happened in March, 2012, held by the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce President of the 19th Term, Norman Chang, the “Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Second Board of Directors and Supervisors Joint Conference of the Nineteenth Term” in Thailand. The name of “Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Junior League” was officially established at the conference and was to be run by its inaugural president - the young Taiwanese businessman, Mr. William Chen, from Thailand.

In July 2012, Mr. Richard Tseng, a young businessman from Indonesia, served as the league leader of the Second Term. In order to be consistent with the “World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce-Junior Chapter”, and other continental Junior Chapters’ naming scheme, he communicated with the President of the 20th Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce, Ko Chao-Chih (Indonesia) and proposed, during the “Third Board of Directors and Supervisors Joint Conference of the Twentieth Term of the ASTCCJC and Members’ Assembly” held at E-DA Theme Park in Kaohsiung, to change the name of the “Junior League” to “Junior Chapter”. The name of the “Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce-Junior Chapter” (hereinafter ASTCCJC) had then been in use ever since.

In July 2013, Mr. Edison Juan, a Singaporean businessman took over as the 3rd President of the Junior League. Although the name “Junior League” had been renamed to the “Junior Chapter”, it did not have a complete and detailed organizational Bylaws, nor did it have a formal directorial / supervisory system. Mr. Edison Juan consulted and communicated with the ASTCC President of the 21st Term, Mr. Shih Chih Lung (Singapore) multiple times to draft and plan a direction for the Junior Chapter Bylaw. After several discussions, President Shih Chih Lung suggested to temporarily adopt the Bylaw Interim Regulations as a way to have the Bylaws approved first. However, this proposal was never put together and was not submitted to the ASTCC for approval.

In July 2014, Mr. John Chuang from Osaka, Japan, took over as the 4th President of the Junior Chapter at the 85 Sky Tower Hotel in Kaohsiung. In September of the same year, Mr. Edison Li (Vietnam), who was the Chief Supervisor of the ASTCCJC, went to Kansai, Osaka, Japan, along with Senior Director Mr. Andy Chiu, to meet up with the ASTCCJC President Mr. John Chuang. They three then jointly visited the 22nd ASTCC President, Hsieh Mei-Hsian (Japan), to discuss, coordinate, and suggest ideas for the future prospects and Bylaws of the Junior Chapter. In November of the same year, the ASTCCJC Bylaw was formally adopted at the “Second Board of Directors and Supervisors Joint Conference of the Twenty- Second Term of the ASTCC”. For the first time, the ASTCC Junior Chapter also used the official directorial and supervisory system to execute operations such as the structure of fees, keeping track of attendance rate drafting the mechanisms for advancement of senior directors, as well as establishing functional committees. At the same time, the First Board of Directors and Supervisors Joint Conference of the Fourth Term of the ASTCCJC took place. Most of the Bylaws of the ASTCC Junior Chapter were based on the “WTCCJC Bylaws”, except for the number of seats at the Board of Directors and the Board of Supervisors of each country and the structure of fees, which were created in accordance with the principles of the ASTCC to be membership based. Also, the president of the ASTCCJC was to be appointed by the current president of the ASTCC of the term; the rest of the Bylaws were roughly the same.

In February 2015, Mr. John Chuang, the 4th president of the ASTCCJC at that time, dismissed himself due to personal reasons. After multiple internal discussing efforts, ASTCCJC decided to appoint Junior Chapter member Mr. Eiji Toyokawa (Tokyo, Japan) to take over the position. In March of the same year, he went to São Paulo, Brazil to attend the “Second Board of Directors and Supervisors Joint Conference of the Fifth Term of WTCCJC” as the Vice President of the WTCCJC (Asia representative). In July of the same year, he announced at the 85 Sky Tower Hotel in Kaohsiung, that he was to step down from the position, and would hand over the torch to the representative of the Junior Chapter in Cambodia, Mr. Simon Lin, who would serve as the 5th President of the ASTCCJC.

The ASTCCJC has reached its 11th Term, and now, Mrs. Peishan Chiang, the representative of Junior Chapter in Philippine, is the 11th President. One can say that between 2016 and 2017 was the ASTCCJC bloomed into prosperity. Presently, the ASTCCJC has 7 national Junior Chapters and 12 regional Junior Chapters in Asian countries. The number of valid members has reached 566 people across Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia,, Japan (Tokyo, Chiba, Yokohama, Kansai, Kyushu, Okinawa.) The purposes of the establishment of the ASTCCJC are to encourage the new generation of Taiwanese businesspeople in Asia to inherit and pass on the torch and to join the Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Asia, to use an innovative mindset and a global perspective to connect overseas youths to promote organizational affairs together, and, in turn, to enhance the development of international trade and economic relations. Last but not least, to direct the organization into the local mainstream societies to achieve the sustained continuous development of the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce.

List of Past and Current ASTCCJC Presidents

The Names of the Junior League Leaders, names of the Junior Chapter Presidents, country of office, and term of office

The Convener Jack Hsu (Hong Kong), Period: July 2010 - July 2011

  1. The 1st Term: William Chen (Thailand), term of office: March 2012 - July 2012
  2. The 2 nd Term: Richard Tseng (Indonesia), term of office: July 2012 - July 2013 (proposed to rename the Junior League into Junior Chapter before he stepped down)
  3. The 3 rd Term: Edison Juan (Singapore), term of office: July 2013 - July 2014
  4. The 4 th Term: John Chuang (Kansai, Japan), term of office: July 2014 - February 2015 (by resignation)
  5. The Fourth Term: Eiji Toyokawa (Tokyo, Japan), term of office: February 2015 - July 2015
  6. The 5 th Term: Simon Lin (Cambodia), term of office: July 2015 - July 2016
  7. The 6 th Term: Alexander Wu (Vietnam), term of office: July 2016 - July 2017
  8. The 7 th Term: Pocky Hsiao (Malaysia), term of office: July 2017 - July 2018
  9. The 8 th Term: Edison Li (Vietnam), term of office: July 2018 - July 2019
  10. The 9 th Term: Johnson Chang (Indonesia), term of office: July 2019 - July 2020
  11. The 10 th Term: Maggie Lin (Thailand), term of office: July 2020 - July 2021
  12. The 11 th Term: Peishan Chiang (Philippine), term of office: July 2021 - (Current)

The distribution of the Junior Chapter in various parts of Asia:

  1. The Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam Junior Chapter: Established since 2012.
  2. The Thai Taiwan Chamber of Commerce Junior Chapter: Established since 2011.
  3. Taipei Business Association in Singapore Junior Chapter: Established since 2010.
  4. Taiwan Investors' Association Malaysia Youth Chapter: Established since 2012.
  5. Taiwan Association Philippine Youth Chapter: Established in 2011.
  6. Indonesia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Junior Chapter: Established in 2012.
  7. Japan Taiwan Chambers of Commerce Youth League: Established in 2013.Distributed throughout six regions (Tokyo, Chiba, Yokohama, Kansai, Kyushu, Okinawa)..

* Above information were collected as of 2022/03/22, of Junior Chapters across Asia, totaling: 7 countries, 12 regions.