Taipei: Paul Chiu, a former vice premier and finance minister of Taiwan, has died at the age of 83, sources confirmed on Wednesday. Chiu was recognized for his significant role in navigating Taiwan through financial crises during his tenure in the late 1990s and 2008.

According to Focus Taiwan, the confirmation of Chiu's death came from anonymous sources following local media reports that emerged on Tuesday night. Details regarding the date or cause of death remain undisclosed. The Chinese-language United Daily News' website reported that Chiu's friends noted his declining health over the past year, as he devoted years to caring for his ailing wife.

Born on February 19, 1942, in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Chiu pursued economics at National Taiwan University, later earning a master's and a doctorate from Ohio State University in the United States. His civil service career began at the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the early 1970s. From 1976 to 1981, he served as the deputy head of the Department of Foreign Exchange, during which Taiwan transitioned to a flexible exchange rate system.

In 1996, Chiu left his role as deputy governor of the central bank to become Taiwan's finance minister, a year before the onset of the Asian financial crisis. The crisis, triggered by Thailand's currency devaluation in July 1997, saw speculative attacks on foreign exchange markets across Southeast and East Asia. Despite the turbulent period, Taiwan managed to achieve 5.1 percent economic growth in 1998. Chiu adeptly handled a local banking crisis later that year by restructuring the banking sector and advocating for the creation of a financial regulatory body and the National Financial Stabilization Fund to mitigate market volatility.

Former President Lee Teng-hui lauded Chiu as "the world's best finance minister in the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis." Chiu re-entered government service under President Ma Ying-jeou in May 2008 as vice premier amid the global financial crisis, addressing rising unemployment and declining exports.

In the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot's devastation in southern Taiwan in August 2009, Chiu led a task force to manage the recovery efforts until the Cabinet's collective resignation on September 10, 2009. Chiu later served as chairman of EnTie Commercial Bank and Bank SinoPac, and he also imparted his economic expertise as a professor at National Taiwan University.