# Mainland Affairs Council

25°02′33″N 121°31′11″E﻿ / ﻿25.04250°N 121.51972°E﻿ / 25.04250; 121.51972
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 MAC's counterpart body in the People's Republic of China is the Taiwan Affairs Office. Both states officially claim each other's territory, though both sides control only part of the claimed territory. The affairs related to the PRC in mainland China is dealt by the MAC, instead of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The council plays an important role in setting policy and development of cross-strait relations and advising the central government. It is administered by a cabinet level Minister. The current Minister is Chiu Tai-san. The agency funds and indirectly administers the Straits Exchange Foundation which directly interacts with agencies from the PRC.

## History

The government of ROC does not recognize the legitimacy and sovereignty of PRC since its establishment in 1949, and heated armed conflicts went on between both parties. The Republic of China controls only Taiwan, Penghu, and some other islands, and therefore is usually known as "Taiwan", sometimes referred to as the "Free Area" in the Republic of China by the Constitution of the Republic of China. The People's Republic of China controls mainland China as well as Hong Kong, Macau, and other islands, and is therefore usually known as "China". As the relation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cooled down, ROC government allowed family-related visits to mainland China in November 1987. The Executive Yuan 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 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 (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.
As cross-strait relations worsened again in the early 2020s, the MAC banned Taiwanese citizens from working at Confucius Institutes, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the All-China Youth Federation, and the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots in 2024 out of national security concerns. In January 2025, the MAC revoked the operating license of The Strait Herald due to its united front work on the island.

## 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, Macao, 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

Non-partisan/ unknown  Kuomintang (Nationalist)  Democratic Progressive Party  Taiwan Solidarity Union
| No. | Name | Term of Office | Term of Office | Days | Political Party | Premier |
| 1 | Shih Chi-yang 施啟揚 | 7 February 1991 | 31 May 1991 | 113 | Kuomintang | Hau Pei-tsun |
| 2 | Huang Kun-huei 黃昆輝 | 1 June 1991 | 14 December 1994 | 1292 | Kuomintang | Hau Pei-tsun Lien Chan |
| 3 | Vincent Siew 蕭萬長 | 15 December 1994 | 3 December 1995 | 353 | Kuomintang | Lien Chan |
| — | Kao Koong-lian 高孔廉 | 3 December 1995 | 27 February 1996 | 86 | Kuomintang | Lien Chan |
| 4 | Chang King-yuh 張京育 | 28 February 1996 | 31 January 1999 | 1068 | Kuomintang | Lien Chan Vincent Siew |
| 5 | Su Chi 蘇起 | 1 February 1999 | 19 May 2000 | 473 | Kuomintang | Vincent Siew |
| 6 | Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 | 20 May 2000 | 19 May 2004 | 1460 | Independent | Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung I Yu Shyi-kun |
| 7 | Joseph Wu 吳釗燮 | 20 May 2004 | 10 April 2007 | 1055 | Democratic Progressive Party | Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang I |
| 8 | Chen Ming-tong 陳明通 | 10 April 2007 | 19 May 2008 | 405 | Democratic Progressive Party | Su Tseng-chang I Chang Chun-hsiung II |
| 9 | Lai Shin-yuan 賴幸媛 | 20 May 2008 | 28 September 2012 | 1592 | Taiwan Solidarity Union | Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Sean Chen |
| 10 | Wang Yu-chi 王郁琦 | 28 September 2012 | 16 February 2015 | 871 | Kuomintang | Sean Chen Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo |
| 11 | Andrew Hsia 夏立言 | 16 February 2015 | 19 May 2016 | 458 | Kuomintang | Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng |
| 12 | Katharine Chang 張小月 | 20 May 2016 | 26 February 2018 | 647 | Independent | Lin Chuan William Lai |
| — | Lin Cheng-yi as acting 林正義 | 26 February 2018 | 19 March 2018 | 21 | Independent | William Lai |
| (8) | Chen Ming-tong 陳明通 | 19 March 2018 | 23 February 2021 | 1072 | Democratic Progressive Party | William Lai Su Tseng-chang II |
| 13 | Chiu Tai-san 邱太三 | 23 February 2021 | 20 May 2024 | 1182 | Democratic Progressive Party | Su Tseng-chang II Chen Chien-jen |
| 14 | Chiu Chui-cheng 邱垂正 | 20 May 2024 | Incumbent | 261 | Democratic Progressive Party | Cho Jung-tai |