A Buddhist art museum themed around the works of Xia Jingshan (夏荊山) is set to be built on a 7,000-ping (23,140 square meters) surface-rights development site at the Tainan Arsenal, acquired by Shangyao Construction. Chung-Chieh Chao (趙忠傑), executive director of the Xia Jingshan Cultural and Arts Foundation, has an unusually high-profile background: his father, Ringo Chao (趙國帥), served as chairman of China Airlines during the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration. Beyond the arts world, Chung-Chieh Chao serves as president of the Taiwan-Poland Business Association (台灣波蘭商業協會) and has more recently emerged as a pioneer in Taiwan's drone industry. In February this year, the Asian Drone Innovation Park Manufacturers Association formally announced the appointment of Chao — identified as president of the Taiwan-Poland association — as "Chief Advisor and European Representative." The credential ceremony drew a notable roster of attendees, including Lin Chia-lung's (林佳龍) political associates, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lu Chien-te (呂建德), and former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應).
Ringo Chao began his career at China Airlines and joined EVA Air in 1989. During the Chen administration, he served as deputy general manager of Taiwan Television (台視) before becoming general manager of China Airlines in 2005 and chairman in 2007. Under the subsequent Ma Ying-jeou administration, he was recruited by the Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), which at the time had acquired a stake in Taipei 101; Ringo served as deputy general manager of Taipei 101. When Ting Hsin later purchased Taiwan Star Telecom (台灣之星), Ringo took on the role of chairman.
The TAIPO's Growing Role
In media interviews conducted in his capacity as executive director of the Xia Jingshan Cultural and Arts Foundation, Chung-Chieh Chao has said he was drawn into art collecting through family influence — his father collected works by artists including Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻). Chao himself began by collecting Impressionist masters such as Monet before shifting toward Eastern art and Buddhist painting, with a stated mission to promote the inheritance of Eastern culture and make art accessible to the public. Xia Jingshan, whose works have entered the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, was a disciple of classical studies scholar Nan Huai-Chin (南懷瑾), a master of traditional Chinese learning.
Beyond his arts activities, the TAIPO Taiwan-Poland Chamber of Commerce, in which Chao holds a leadership role, has assumed an increasingly prominent position in Taiwan's civil and people-to-people diplomacy in recent years.
In June last year, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung received Łódź Mayor Hanna Zdanowska during her visit to Taiwan. In a Facebook post, Lin noted that the two had previously met in Poland in November 2024, when he accompanied a Chinese international economic cooperation association (CIECA, 國經協會) drone industry delegation to Europe, and that the two associations — the Polish-Taiwan Chamber of Commerce and the TAIPO — had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Warsaw, with the aim of expanding bilateral commercial opportunities.
Lin subsequently shared a photograph of Mayor Zdanowska and TAIPO president Chung-Chieh Chao signing an MOU, with Lin present alongside them. The images received wide media coverage at the time, amid reports that Taiwan had secured significant drone orders from Eastern Europe in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war — with Poland emerging as Taiwan's largest export destination for drones.
Taiwan's Drone Industry Formally Signals Its European Push
On January 16 this year, the TAIPO, the Taipei Medical Alliance (TMA,臺灣台北醫療聯盟協會), the Taiwan-Indonesia Technology and ESG Association, (TITEA, 台灣印尼科技與永續經營協會), and Wan-Kuo Pharmaceutical (萬國製藥) signed a joint MOU, signaling the simultaneous linkage of Taiwan's industries with both European and ASEAN markets. Among those present at the signing was Su Yi-rong (蘇奕榮) — a cousin of Lisa Su (蘇姿丰), AMD's CEO, who is known in some Taiwanese media as the "semiconductor queen" — attending in his capacity as honorary president of the TAIPO. The framework envisions using Indonesia's natural resource base and sustainable transition potential as a foundation, connected to Poland's industrial manufacturing capacity and its strategic role in European supply chains, to construct a cross-regional, cross-sector cooperation structure.
Chao said at the event that Poland represents a strategic gateway into European supply chains, while Indonesia is a critical anchor in Asia with substantial resource potential and sustainable development capacity. Taiwan's technological integration capabilities, he said, are the essential link connecting both ends of the Eurasian corridor.
On February 13 this year, the Asian Drone Innovation Park Manufacturers Association — chaired by Max Luo (羅正方), head of Geosat Aerospace and Technology (經緯航太) — formally appointed Chao as "Chief Advisor and European Representative." The TAIPO's Facebook page posted photographs of the credential ceremony, with a statement emphasizing that Taiwan's drone industry had "officially sounded the charge into Europe," and that Chao, in his new role, would serve as "a critical strategic node interfacing with the EU system and the most trusted choice for the European market."
DPP-Aligned Officials Signal Significance of Drone Park Appointment
Photographs released by the TAIPO from the ceremony conveyed a clear signal of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration's interest in the appointment. Attendees included National Development Council (國發會) Vice Chairperson Chan Fang-kuan (詹方冠), Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lu Chien-te, former President Tsai Ing-wen's senior aide Shih Ko-ho (施克和), and former DPP legislator Tsai Shih-ying.
In addition, Chao has facilitated cooperation between drone "national team" firm Carbon Based Technology (碳基科技) and Polish partners during his tenure at the TAIPO. On January 20 this year, Carbon Based Technology chairman Chen Wen-hung (陳文宏) signed an MOU with the association, announcing cooperation across drone platforms, carbon fiber lightweight manufacturing, smart healthcare, and European supply chain integration. The two sides have identified "Taiwan composite materials technology, Polish precision manufacturing" as their core value proposition, and plan to establish a demonstration facility combining AI, drone applications, and advanced medical logistics — covering aerospace composite materials, intelligent medical supply delivery systems, and lightweight carbon fiber medical device components.
