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 The Government of the Republic of China is the central government, national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of Taiwan (island), main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu Islands, Matsu, and list of islands of ...

(Taiwan) to handle civil and business matters with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC). Though technically a private organization, it is funded by the government and under the supervision of the

Mainland Affairs Council 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 p ...

of the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive (government), executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, amended constitution, the head of the Execut ...

. 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. Its counterpart in the PRC is the

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS; ; often abbreviated as ) is a United front (China), united front organization set up by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China for handling technical and bus ...

(ARATS).

History

Business and civil activities across Taiwan Strait resumed when the armed conflict between the two side ceased after the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Due to the complexity of the

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

status of cross-strait relations and lack of contact between the two opposing governments during the conflict, the ROC government had to create an intermediary body from the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

to deal with cross-strait matters. Thus on 9 March 1991, the SEF was formally established with the help of the government and private sector funds. At the same time, the PRC government established ARATS. The creation of these two offices facilitate a new stage in cross-strait relations after they had been virtually non-existent for almost 50 years since the establishment of PRC.

Organization structure

* Department of Cultural Affairs * Department of Economic Affairs * Department of Legal Affairs * Department of Planning and Public Affairs * Secretariat * Personnel Office * Accounting Office

List of chairpersons

SEF branch office in Mainland China

On 11 April 2013, the

approved a bill to open SEF branch offices in

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. In the initial announcement, three offices were planned.

SEF building

The current SEF building in Beian Road originated since its groundbreaking construction on 25 September 2010 when its ceremony was presided over by then SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung. On 31 March 2012, the finished constructed building was refurbished and SEF started to move there on 4 April 2012 from their old rented office building on Minsheng East Road. The new building was opened for service on 9 April 2012. On 18 May 2012, President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...

presided over the building's official opening ceremony. The SEF building is adjacent to Dazhi Station of the

Taipei Metro Taipei Metro (also known as Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and branded as Metro Taipei) is a rapid transit system operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation serving the capital Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan. It was the first rapi ...

on the Brown Line.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Executive Yuan Cross-strait relations 1991 establishments in Taiwan Organizations established in 1991 Organizations based in Taipei