Chen Ming-tong (; born 25 November 1955) is a Taiwanese

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and politician who served as the director-general of the National Security Bureau from 2021 to 2023 and the minister 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 ...

from 2018 to 2021 and 2007 to 2008.

Academic career

After graduating from Taichung Municipal Taichung Second Senior High School, Chen studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1979, his master's degree in the subject in 1981, and then his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in the subject in 1991. Chen worked as a researcher in the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the

Taipei City Government The Taipei City Government is the municipal government of Taipei. History Taipei was known as Taihoku during Japan's rule of Taiwan, which started in 1895. Initially, the city was directly controlled by the Governor-General of Taiwan. In ...

in 1983-1984. After finishing his doctoral degree, he worked as associate professor followed by professor at the Graduate Institute of National Development of NTU from 1992 to 2000. He was a thesis adviser to several politicians affiliated with the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

, including

Chiu Chih-wei Chiu Chih-wei (; born 24 July 1972) is a Taiwanese politician and a member of the Legislative Yuan. Of Hakka descent, he is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party. He served as Kaohsiung's chief of bureau of civil affairs between 2007 and ...

Kao Chia-yu Kao Chia-yu (; born 17 October 1980) is a Taiwanese politician and a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She was elected to the National Assembly in 2005. Upon assuming office, she became the youngest person to ever be seated in t ...

Lin Chih-chien Lin Chih-chien (; born 27 May 1975) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the mayor of Hsinchu City from 25 December 2014 to 8 July 2022. Early life and education Lin earned his bachelor's degree in business administration followed by a master's d ...

Pan Men-an Pan Men-an (; born 15 August 1963) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the magistrate of Pingtung County from 25 December 2014 to 25 December 2022. He joined the campaign team of the 2024 presidential candidate of Democratic Progressive Party, a ...

Cheng Wen-tsan Cheng Wen-tsan (; born 6 July 1967) is a Taiwanese politician who has served as the vice premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2023 to 2024 and chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation briefly in 2024. A member of the Democratic Pro ...

and Shen Fa-hui. In 2022, several master theses he advised were pointed out for plagiarism, and his students Lin Chih-chien and Cheng Wen-tsan's master degrees had been canceled by National Taiwan University. Then he was fired by the university. In 2024, he published a book with Puma Shen's preface, claiming that the "theses event" was political persecution influcented by mainland China. However, the university declared that Lin and cheng had accept the degree cancellation, so Chen needs to apologize to the public as an advisor of master graduates.

Political career

He led the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) between 2007 and 2008, then returned to NTU. In 2018, he succeeded

Katharine Chang Katharine Chang (; born 12 February 1953) is a Taiwanese diplomat. Education Chang obtained her bachelor's degree from the Department of Diplomacy of National Chengchi University. She then obtained her master's degree in international relation ...

as MAC minister.

National Security Bureau

In 2022, he publicly claimed on the basis of intelligence that China was not going to invade Taiwan within the next several years while

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...

remained in office and that the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

had caused the mainland to re-evaluate their military plans regarding Taiwan. He also claimed that Taiwan had some knowledge of what the makeup of the

Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) an ...

was going to be after the

20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), commonly referred to as ''Èrshí Dà'' ( zh, c=二十大), was held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing from 16 to 22 October 2022. The National Congress is the highest organ ...

to be held later in 2022. His public revelation of this information was criticized by former army Major General Yu Beichen, he alleged that revealing such specific information put intelligence gathering in the mainland at risk.TAIWAN - CHINA Taiwan’s intelligence chief says Beijing not likely to launch invasion next fall AsiaNews 03/25/2022
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Ming-tong 1955 births Living people National Taiwan University alumni Political office-holders in the Republic of China on Taiwan