The TIEC was established in 1953, and has more than 50-year history clearly traces and mirrors Taiwan 's trade-development story. starting from scratch, the TIEC's membership has increased sharply around 3,000 from only a couple of hundred enterprises at the initial stage.

　　The development of the R.O.C.'s international trade, just as Prof. Ho Chia-Chu, a prominent local economist described, has undergone two epochal transitions. And a third major change is taking place at this moment. The first two changes were “import substitution” and “export substitution” . Import substitution means to ship abroad primary products in change for machinery equipment and raw materials in order to lay a solid foundation for industrial development; export substisution means replacing agricultural products with industrial goods as key export items.

　　As for the current transition, technical-and capital-intensive products is replacing labor-intensive primary and intermediary industrial goods. Each transition is a major step forward. Members of the TIEC have not only successfully met these challenges but have also boosted investment and improved quality to the point where they now sell their products to over 170 countries around the world. All of the former chairmen of this Chamber of Commerce—Messrs. C.S. Huang ,C.Y. Hsieh, C. Ho, S.C. Lin, M.F. Chen, F.L. Lo, C.C. Wang, M.M. Huang, C.C. Chin, J.C. Lin and H.F. Yang have all demonstrated outstanding leadership and ceaseless effort to improve the service of the TIEC staff, promote cooperation among TIEC members and strengthen relationships with overseas relevant organizations.