Vincent C. Siew or Siew Wan-chang is a Taiwanese politician who served as the Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2012. He was the first Taiwanese-born Premier of the Republic of China and former vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT).
As a result of the surrender and occupation of Japan at the end of World War II, the islands of Taiwan and Penghu were placed under the governance of the Republic of China (ROC), ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), on 25 October 1945. Following the February 28 massacre in 1947, martial law was declared in 1949 by the Governor of Taiwan, Chen Cheng, and the ROC Ministry of National Defense. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the ROC government retreated from the mainland as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The KMT retreated to Taiwan and declared Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC. For many years, the ROC and PRC each continued to claim in the diplomatic arena to be the sole legitimate government of "China". In 1971, the United Nations expelled the ROC and replaced it with the PRC.
The Straits Exchange Foundation is a semiofficial organization set up by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to handle technical and/or business matters with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Though technically a private organization, it is funded by the government and under the supervision of the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan. Its role is effectively to function as the de facto embassy to the PRC, as a means of avoiding acknowledgement of the PRC's statehood status.
The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits is a united front organization set up by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China for handling technical and business matters with Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the cross-strait relations policy which targets mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semiofficial representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China and the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. They are often credited as creating a diplomatic basis for semi-official cross-strait exchanges which began in the early 1990s and is a precondition set by the PRC for engaging in cross-strait dialogue.
Cross-strait relations are the political and economic relations between China and Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait. Due to the existing controversy over the status of Taiwan, they are also not defined as diplomatic relations by both sides.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong (TECO) is the representative office of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Hong Kong. Its counterpart body in Taiwan is the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan.
Chen Yunlin was the chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the body responsible for negotiations with Taiwan in the People's Republic of China in 2008–2013.
The united front in Taiwan is an aspect of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Government of China's larger united front strategy, applied to Taiwan, to achieve unification. It relies on the presence of pro-Beijing sympathizers in Taiwan combined with a carrot-and-stick approach of threatening war with Taiwan while offering opportunities for business and cultural exchanges. According to officials of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the CCP has long relied on organized crime as part of its united front tactics in Taiwan. Critics who are negative of Chinese unification have linked the term "united front" to Chinese imperialism and expansionism.
Zhang Zhijun is a Chinese diplomat and politician. From 17 March 2013 to 21 March 2018, he has served as the Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. He is currently the president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits since April 2018.
Lin Join-sane is a Taiwanese politician. He was the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation from 27 September 2012 until 20 May 2016.
Wang Yu-chi is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of the Executive Yuan since 28 September 2012 until 16 February 2015, when he resigned over the dropping of espionage charges brought against Chang Hsien-yao. Wang is the first ROC ministerial-level government official to visit mainland China after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Chang Hsien-yao or Vincent Chang is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Special Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan in September 2013 until August 2014 and concurrently as the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in February 2014 until August 2014.
The Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office is the representative office of Hong Kong in the Republic of China. Its counterpart body in Hong Kong is the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau is the representative office of the Republic of China in Macau. Its counterpart body in Taiwan is the Macau Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan.
The Taiwan Strait Tourism Association is a semi-official representative office of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Mainland China handling tourism-related affairs. Its counterpart body in Taiwan by the People's Republic of China is the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits.
The Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits is a semi-official representative office of the People's Republic of China in Taiwan handling tourism-related affairs. Its counterpart body in Mainland China by the Republic of China (Taiwan) is the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.
The Straits Forum is an annual forum between Mainland China and Taiwan which started in 2009. It is the largest non-political platform which promotes grassroots interaction, economic and trade exchanges and cultural integration.
On 7 November 2015, Ma Ying-jeou, President of the Republic of China, and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and President of the People's Republic of China, met in Singapore. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945.
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