# 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 as the Mongolian Bureau (Chinese: 蒙古衙門; Manchu: ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣ ᠵᡠᡵᡤᠠᠨ), later reformed into the Lifan Yuan (理藩院) in 1639, and oversaw the relationship of the Qing court to its "Feudatory Regions" (Mongolian, Muslims in Xinjiang and Tibetan territories). In 1906, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, it was renamed to Ministry of Minority Affairs (理藩部).
Following the Xinhai Revolution and the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the section was replaced by Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Agency under the Ministry of the Interior in April 1912. In July 1912, the agency was again renamed as Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs (蒙藏院) and placed under the State Affairs Yuan. In 1914, it was reorganized and being placed directly under the supervision of President. On 1 February 1929, it was finally changed to Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) in accordance with the Nationalist Government Organizational Law. After the Communist revolution in 1949, and the central government of China's relocation to Taiwan, formerly a Qing province turned colony that was acquired from Japan in 1945 after the end of World War II, the MTAC ceased its activities in Tibet and Mongolia, although it served as a governmental body which assisted in the relationship between ethnic Mongols and Tibetans in Taiwan and increasing the communication between the Taiwanese and the Mongols as well as the Tibetans.
After the 1959 Tibetan uprising, Chiang Kai-shek announced in his Letter to Tibetan Compatriots (Chinese: 告西藏同胞書; pinyin: Gào Xīzàng Tóngbāo Shū) that the ROC's policy would be to help the Tibetan people overthrow the People's Republic of China's rule in Tibet. The MTAC sent secret agents to India to disseminate pro-Kuomintang (KMT) and anti-Communist propaganda among Tibetan exiles. From 1971 to 1978, the MTAC also recruited ethnic Tibetan children from India and Nepal to study in Taiwan, with the expectation that they would work for a ROC government that returned to the mainland.
On 14 August 2017, the Executive Yuan, now led by the independence minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, announced that the MTAC would be dissolved by the end of the year. No budget was allocated to the MTAC for 2018. Employees and responsibilities of the commission were reassigned to two places: the Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center under the Ministry of Culture, and the expanded Department of Hong Kong, Macao, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet Affairs under the Mainland Affairs Council.

## Organizational structure

* Commissioners
* Secretary's Office
* Counselor's Office
* Department of Mongolian Affairs
* Department of Tibetan Affairs
* Department of General Affairs
* Compilation and Translation
* Accounting Office
* Personnel Office
* Civil Service Ethics Office

## Ministers

Political Party:  Kuomintang  Democratic Progressive Party  Non-partisan/unknown
| No. | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Days | Political party | Ancestry (ethnicity) | Premier |
| 1 | Yan Xishan (閻錫山) | 27 December 1928 | 5 April 1930 | 464 | Kuomintang | Wutai, Shanxi | Tan Yankai |
| 2 | Ma Fuxiang (馬福祥) | 8 September 1930 | 30 December 1931 | 478 | Kuomintang | Linxia, Gansu (Hui) | Tan Yankai Chiang Kai-shek I |
| 3 | Shi Qingyang (石青陽) | 30 December 1931 | 15 March 1935 | 1171 | Kuomintang | Ba County, Sichuan | Sun Fo I Wang Jingwei |
| 4 | Huang Mu-sung (黃慕松) | 15 March 1935 | 29 July 1936 | 502 | Kuomintang | Meichuan, Guangdong | Wang Jingwei Chiang Kai-shek II |
| 5 | Lin Yungai (林雲陔) | 29 July 1936 | 8 August 1936 | 10 | Kuomintang | Xinyi, Guangdong | Chiang Kai-shek II |
| 6 | Wu Zhongxin (吳忠信) | 8 August 1936 | 6 December 1944 | 3042 | Kuomintang | Hefei, Anhui | Chiang Kai-shek II H. H. Kung Chiang Kai-shek III |
| 7 | Leung Kam Lo (羅良鑒) | 6 December 1944 | 23 April 1947 | 868 | Kuomintang | Shanhua, Hunan | Chiang Kai-shek III T. V. Soong |
| 8 | Xu Shiying (許世英) | 23 April 1947 | 26 November 1948 | 642 | Kuomintang | Qiupu, Anhui | Zhang Qun Weng Wenhao |
| 9 | Serengdongrub (白雲梯) | 26 November 1948 | 6 June 1949 | 192 | Kuomintang | Harqin Middle Banner, Rehe (Mongol) | Sun Fo II He Yingqin |
| 10 | Guan Jiyu (關吉玉) | 6 June 1949 | 23 November 1949 | 170 | Kuomintang | Liaoyang, Liaoning (Manchu) | He Yingqin Yan Xishan |
| 11 | Zhou Kuntian (周昆田) | 23 November 1949 | 10 March 1950 | 107 | Kuomintang | Hefei, Anhui | Yan Xishan |
| 12 | Yu Ching-tang (余井塘) | 10 March 1950 | 22 February 1951 | 349 | Kuomintang | Dongtai, Jiangsu | Chen Cheng I |
| 13 | Tien Chung-chin (田炯錦) | 22 February 1951 | 25 May 1954 | 1188 | Kuomintang | Qingyang, Gansu | Chen Cheng I |
| 14 | Liu Lianke (劉廉克) | 25 May 1954 | 14 July 1958 | 1511 | Kuomintang | Harqin Left Banner, Rehe (Mongol) | Chen Cheng I Yu Hung-Chun |
| 15 | Lee Yong-xin (李永新) | 14 July 1958 | 30 May 1960 | 686 | Kuomintang | Harqin Left Banner, Rehe (Mongol) | Chen Cheng II |
| 16 | Tien Chung-chin (田炯錦) | 30 May 1960 | 14 December 1963 | 1293 | Kuomintang | Qingyang, Gansu | Chen Cheng II |
| 17 | Guo Jiqiao (郭寄嶠) | 14 December 1963 | 29 May 1972 | 3089 | Kuomintang | Hefei, Anhui | Chen Cheng II Yen Chia-kan |
| 18 | Chui Yan Cui (崔垂言) | 29 May 1972 | November 1981 | | Kuomintang | Changchun, Jilin | Yen Chia-kan Chiang Ching-kuo Sun Yun-suan |
| 19 | Xie Renyang (薛人仰) | November 1981 | May 1984 | | Kuomintang | Fuzhou, Fujian | Sun Yun-suan |
| 20 | Dong Shufan (董樹藩) | May 1984 | March 1986 | | Kuomintang | Sa County, Suiyuan | Sun Yun-suan Yu Kuo-hua |
| 21 | Wu Hua-peng (吳化鵬) | April 1986 | 26 February 1993 | | Kuomintang | Aohan Right Banner, Rehe (Mongol) | Yu Kuo-hua Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun |
| 22 | Zhang Junyi (張駿逸) | 27 February 1993 | 14 December 1994 | 655 | Kuomintang | Changsha, Hunan | Lien Chan |
| 23 | Lee Hou-kao (李厚高) | 15 December 1994 | 31 August 1997 | 990 | Kuomintang | Songzi, Hubei | Lien Chan |
| 24 | Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) | 1 September 1997 | 19 May 2000 | 991 | Kuomintang | Minhou, Fujian | Vincent Siew |
| 25 | Hsu Cheng-kuang (徐正光) | 20 May 2000 | 31 January 2002 | 621 | | Pingtung, Taiwan | Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung I |
| 26 | Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄) | 1 February 2002 | 19 May 2008 | 2299 | Democratic Progressive Party | Keelung, Taiwan | Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang Chang Chun-hsiung II |
| 27 | Kao Su-po (高思博) | 20 May 2008 | 8 February 2011 | 994 | Kuomintang | Tainan City | Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih |
| 28 | Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) | 9 February 2011 | 29 September 2013 | 963 | Kuomintang | Shuangfeng, Hunan | Wu Den-yih Chen Chun Jiang Yi-huah |
| — | Chen Ming-jen (陳明仁) | 30 September 2013 | 22 October 2013 | 22 | | Chiayi County, Taiwan | Jiang Yi-huah |
| 29 | Jaclyn Tsai (蔡玉玲) | 22 October 2013 | 19 May 2016 | 940 | Independent | Taiwan | Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng |
| 30 | Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) | 20 May 2016 | 7 February 2017 | 263 | Independent | Taipei City | Lin Chuan |
| 31 | Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) | 8 February 2017 | 15 September 2017 | 219 | Independent | Kaohsiung City | Lin Chuan William Lai |

## Other notable members

* Thubten Choekyi Nyima, 9th Panchen Lama
* Wu Heling
* Pandatsang Rapga

## Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center

The Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center (Chinese: 蒙藏文化中心; pinyin: Měng-Zàng Wénhuà Zhōngxīn) was originally managed by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. It is located in the Daan District of Taipei on Qingtian Street near the Taipei Grand Mosque and Mandarin Training Center. The center was established in 1993 in the former residence of the Changkya Khutukhtu, Lobsang Pelden Tenpe Dronme, who fled to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The building incorporates traditional Tibetan architectural features. It also includes an exhibition area for cultural artifacts, a reading room, lecture hall and prayer hall for the Changkya Khutukhtu. After the commission was disbanded, the center's management was turned over to the Ministry of Culture.