History
In July 1954, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to establish the Central Taiwan Affairs Group. The group and its office were established in 1955. The office was located in the Central Investigation Department, with Qi Yanming as its director, while Yang Yindong was responsible for specific work. During the later period of the Cultural Revolution, Yang concurrently served as the deputy director of the Office of the Central Taiwan Affairs Leading Group, and cooperated with central departments to participate in the amnesty of war criminals and armed agents in Taiwan, the cleanup of prisons, the lenient release of Kuomintang personnel above the county and regimental level, the implementation of the policy of surrendering and uprising personnel, and the handling of rightist work for a total of five years. [1]
In December 1979, the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs was reinstated. At the end of 1979, Deng Xiaoping personally presided over the work on Taiwan, and Deng Yingchao and Liao Chengzhi were put in charge of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs. [2] The Office of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs was listed as a unit directly under the Central Committee, with Yang Yindong serving as deputy director. In the spring of 1982, he became director, ultimately leaving the office in September 1985. [1] In November 1987, Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo decided to open up visits to relatives in mainland China for veterans in Taiwan, thus opening up exchanges between Taiwanese residents and mainland Chinese residents that were stopped for decades. This led to the return of veterans of the Republic of China to their hometowns in mainland China, as well as the visits by Taiwanese residents to mainland China, cross-strait economic and trade exchanges and investments, marriage, property inheritance and other Taiwan-related affairs, leading the Office of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs to be no longer able to adapt to the new situation. [3]
In 1988, the CCP Central Committee decided to entrust Vice Premier Wu Xueqian and Ding Guangen to organize a government Taiwan affairs work agency with administrative and management functions, leading to the formation of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. [3] On September 9, 1988, the executive meeting of the State Council decided to establish the office. [4] In October 1988, Wu Xueqian, Ding Guangen, Li Qingzhou, Geng Wenqing, Tang Shube, and An Min met in Beidaihe. Wu Xueqian conveyed the decision of the Central Committee on the establishment of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office and asked the participants to report on the situation, tasks and staffing of their respective departments’ Taiwan work. They also asked for opinions on the tasks, organizational structure, staffing and relationship with the existing Taiwan work departments of the central and state organs. On October 30, 1988, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice which stipulated that "the Taiwan Affairs Office is the agency of the State Council to handle Taiwan affairs" and appointed Ding Guangen as the director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, with Sun Xiaoyu and Chen Zonggao as deputy directors. [3] [5]
On May 31, 1989, the State Council appointed Tang Shubei as the deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office. At the time, the Taiwan Affairs Office had very few staff members, and was divided into five groups: the secretariat group, the research group, the liaison group, the economic group, and the exchange group. Sun Xiaoyu was in charge of the liaison group, Chen Zonggao was in charge of the secretariat group and the economic group, and Tang Shubei was in charge of the research group and the exchange group. Ding Guangen often convened these three deputy directors, and sometimes the heads of each group, to hold meetings in Ding Guangen's conference room. On January 18, 1990, deputy director Tang Shubei spoke to Xinhua News Agency reporters on the institutional functions of the Taiwan Affairs Office. Tang said that the Taiwan Affairs Office, "as the office of the State Council to handle Taiwan-related affairs", will "actively organize, guide, manage and coordinate the Taiwan-related work of the State Council departments, provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and promote the gradual easing of cross-strait relations and the further development of mutual exchanges". Among them, "organizing, guiding, managing and coordinating" is called the "eight-character policy" by the Taiwan Affairs Office system. This is the function approved by the Central Committee when Wu Xueqian and Ding Guangen created the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, which continues to this day. [3]
On March 27, 1991, the Central Committee and the State Council decided to merge the former Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs and the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office to form the CCP Central Committee Taiwan Affairs Office. This office was also the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, which was one institution with two names and was listed as a direct institution of the Central Committee. The Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs was directly led by the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, and its daily work was undertaken by the Central Committee Taiwan Affairs Office. In this merger, with the approval of the Central Committee and the State Council, the Office of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs merged with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office headed by Wang Zhaoguo. Wang Zhaoguo served as the director of both the Central Committee Taiwan Affairs Office and the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office. Under Wang Zhaoguo's efforts, the staff increased and 10 bureaus were established, which were later slightly adjusted. [6] [7]
From March 5 to 7, 1993, the second plenary session of the 14th CCP Central Committee was held in Beijing, and adopted the "Plan on the Reform of Party and Government Institutions". On July 2, 1993, the Central Committee issued the "Notice on Issuing the 'Plan for the Reform of Party and Government Institutions' and the 'Implementation Opinions on the Plan for the Reform of Party and Government Institutions'". Among the adjusted institutions directly under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China as determined by the "Plan", the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council are one institution with two names and are included in the list of institutions directly under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. On June 24, 1993, the Central Committee decided to establish the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council became the working bodies of the leading group. [7]
In July 1999, the Taiwan Affairs Office established the Taiwan.cn news website. [8] In 2007, the Taiwan Affairs Office established the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland [ zh ] (ATIEM), consisting of Taiwanese businesses operating in Mainland China. [9] Prior to the 2012 Taiwanese legislative and presidential elections, ATIEM organized discounted flights to Taiwan for Taishang to vote in Taiwanese elections. [10] [11] In October 2025, Taiwan Affairs Office established a Facebook page where it issued bounties on key Taiwanese political figures. [12]
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