Chen Yunlin (; born December 1941) was the chairman of the

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS; ; often abbreviated as 海协会 / 海協會) is an organization set up by the People's Republic of China for handling technical and business matters with the Republic of ...

(ARATS), the body responsible for negotiations with

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

in the People's Republic of China in 2008–2013.

Early life

Chen was born in 1941 in

Heishan Heishan (黑山; literally ''black mountain'') may refer to: * Heishan bandits (黑山賊), an offshoot of the Yellow Turban Rebellion during the Eastern Han Dynasty ;Locations in China *Heishan County, Jinzhou, Liaoning ;;Towns * Heishan, Heilon ...

, Liaoning. He joined the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

(CPC) in 1966. In 1967, he graduated from

Beijing Agricultural University China Agricultural University (CAU, ; abbreviated as 农大) is a public research university in Beijing, People's Republic of China specializing in agriculture, biology, engineering, veterinary medicine, economics, management, humanities and soc ...

and started to work as technician in a chemical factory in

Qiqihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total popula ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

, and later on promoted to be factory director.

Political life

In 1981, Chen started to work for the government as the Director of Qiqihar City Economic Planning Committee. In 1983, he became the mayor of Qiqihar and in 1984 he was appointed deputy secretary of the CPC provincial committee and Director of Commission for Restructuring the Economy of Heilongjiang Province. In 1987, he became the vice governor of Heilongjiang Province. In 1994, he was appointed to 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 stipulat ...

of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

as vice director, becoming its director in 1997. In 2008, due to the resumption of talks with

following the election of

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from 1 ...

, Chen Yun-lin became the second head of ARATS. Though nominally a private body, ARATS is directly led by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Chen's new office at ARATS is in the same building complex as his old office at the Taiwan Affairs Office. The ARATS is the body directly responsible for negotiating with the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), its counterpart in Taiwan, which is correspondingly directly led by the

Mainland Affairs Council 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 po ...

of the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. Unde ...

Visit to Taiwan

On November 4, 2008, Chen met with his Taiwanese counterpart at the

Second Chen-Chiang summit The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

Chiang Pin-kung Chiang Pin-kung (; 16 December 1932 – 10 December 2018) was a Taiwanese politician. He led the Ministry of Economic Affairs from 1993 to 1996, when he was named Minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, where he served ...

, head of Taiwan's SEF. It was the first ever meeting between ARATS and SEF leaders in Taiwan.Sin
"Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou meets ARATS chief"
Retrieved on November 9, 2008. The meeting lasted from November 3 to 7 in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

.China Daily
"SEF releases schedule of mainland delegation's trip to Taiwan"
(November 2, 2008) Retrieved on November 9, 2008. The 5-day visit was the highest level meeting between the

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...

and the CPC in six decades.Etaiwannews.com
"China envoy arrives amid civilized Taiwanese protests."
Retrieved on November 9, 2008. Another visit to Taiwan was followed on December 21, 2009. This controversial visit triggered an important social movement called the

Wild Strawberry student movement The Wild Strawberries Movement () is a protest movement in Taiwan begun on 6 November 2008 after the visit of the People's Republic of China's ARATS chairman Chen Yunlin to the island. Police actions on protests aimed at Chen suppressed the d ...

References

External links

Free searchable biography of Chen Yun-lin at China Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yunlin 1941 births Living people Chinese Communist Party politicians from Liaoning Politicians from Jinzhou People's Republic of China politicians from Liaoning