Lin worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 25 years, and was based in Latin America. He also served as secretary to Lien Chan before assuming a vice-ministerial role at the Council of Agriculture in 1989. Lin was promoted in 1999 to succeed Peng Tso-kwei as agriculture minister.[1] Upon taking office, Lin expressed support for revisions to the Agricultural Development Law proposed by Peng.[2] However, shortly afterward, Lin proposed a new set of regulations regarding the zoning of farmland.[3] The Legislative Yuan eventually voted to allow individual farmers to build structures on newly-acquired farmland.[4] Shortly before leaving the Council of Agriculture, Lin joined Lien Chan's 2000 presidential campaign.[5] He stepped down when the Chen Shui-bian administration was sworn into office and later worked for the National Policy Foundation, a Kuomintang think tank.[6] By the 2004 election cycle, Lin had been named the leader of the Kuomintang's Kaohsiung headquarters and worked to coordinate a joint presidential ticket with the People First Party.[7][8] After Chen Shui-bian won a second presidential term, Lin led a protest outside the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office.[9] He sought agricultural support for the KMT in the 2005 local elections by organizing the Taiwan Tractor Team.[10]
