The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a
cabinet-level administrative agency under the
Executive Yuan of the
Republic of China in Taiwan.
The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the
cross-strait relations
Cross-Strait relations (sometimes called Mainland–Taiwan relations, or Taiwan-China relations) are the relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China).
The relationship h ...
policy which targets
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
.
The MAC's counterpart body in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
is the
Taiwan Affairs Office
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency under the State Council of Mainland China. It is responsible for setting and implementing guidelines and policies related to the Republic of China (Taiwan), as stipul ...
. Both states officially claim each other's territory, however the Republic of China controls only Taiwan and Penghu as well as surrounding islands, and therefore is usually known as "Taiwan", sometimes referred to as the "
Free Area
The free area of the Republic of China, also known as the "Taiwan Area of the Republic of China", "Tai-Min Area (Taiwan and Fujian)" or simply the "Taiwan Area", is a term used by the government of the Republic of China (ROC) to refer to ...
" of the Republic of China by the
Constitution of the Republic of China
The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, ...
. The People's Republic of China controls
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
as well as
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
,
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
,
Hainan
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
, and other islands and is therefore usually known simply as "
China". Therefore, the affairs related to the PRC belongs to the MAC, not the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Mainland Affairs Council is administered by a
cabinet level Minister. The current Minister is
Chiu Tai-san
Chiu Tai-san (; born 30 August 1956) is a Taiwanese lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2004. He then served the Mainland Affairs Council as a vice chairman, and later as deputy mayor of Kaohsiung under C ...
.
The council plays an important role in setting policy and development of
cross-strait relations
Cross-Strait relations (sometimes called Mainland–Taiwan relations, or Taiwan-China relations) are the relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China).
The relationship h ...
and advising the central government.
The agency funds and indirectly administers the
Straits Exchange Foundation
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF; ; often abbreviated as 海基會) 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 (P ...
which is the official intermediary with the PRC.
History
In November 1987, relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have improved considerably after
ROC government began to allow family-related visits to Mainland China. The
Executive Yuan therefore established the Inter-Agency Mainland Affairs Committee in August 1988 as a taskforce to handle mainland-related affairs among the authorities. In April 1990, the ROC government drafted the Organization Act for the Mainland Affairs Council to strengthen Mainland China policy making and to enhance policy making efficiency. The third reading of the act was passed by the
Legislative Yuan on 18 January 1991. On 28 January 1991, the act was promulgated by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Lee Teng-hui thus officially authorized the Mainland Affairs Council to be the agency for the overall planning and handling of affairs towards Mainland China.
In 2017, some of the responsibilities of the
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission
The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) was a ministry-level commission of the Executive Yuan in the Republic of China. It was disbanded on 15 September 2017.
History
The first model was created during the Qing dynasty in 1636 ...
(MTAC) were absorbed into the MAC's Department of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, creating the expanded Department of Hong Kong, Macao, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet Affairs.
Organizational structure
The agency is organized in the following departments:
Internal departments
* Department of Policy Planning
* Department of Cultural and Educational Affairs
* Department of Economic Affairs
* Department of Legal Affairs
* Department of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
,
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet Affairs
* Department of Information and Liaison
Offices
* Secretariat
* Personnel Office
* Accounting Office
* Civil Servant Ethics Office
* Information Management
Others
*
Office of Hong Kong Affairs
*
Office of Macao Affairs
List of MAC heads
See also
*
Political status of Taiwan
*
National Unification Council
*
Cross-Strait relations
Cross-Strait relations (sometimes called Mainland–Taiwan relations, or Taiwan-China relations) are the relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China).
The relationship h ...
*
Taiwan Affairs Office
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency under the State Council of Mainland China. It is responsible for setting and implementing guidelines and policies related to the Republic of China (Taiwan), as stipul ...
*
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau
The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau is a ministerial-level policy bureaux of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for the implementation of the Basic Law, including electoral matters and promotion of equal opportunities and pr ...
*
Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) is a North Korean state agency aimed at promoting Korean reunification.
Overview
The CPRK was not a governmental body per se but rather an offshoot of the Korean Workers' Party's Unit ...
— similar organization in North Korea
*
Ministry of Unification
The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung-hee. It gained its ...
— similar organization in South Korea
*
Minister of Intra-German Relations
The Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations (german: Bundesminister für innerdeutsche Beziehungen) was a federal cabinet minister of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The office was created under the title of Federal Minister of A ...
— similar organization in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
*
— similar organization in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
*
Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs — similar organization in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1988 establishments in Taiwan
Cross-Strait relations
Executive Yuan
Government agencies established in 1988