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| Formation | 21 November 1990 (first meeting) 9 March 1991 (start operation)[1] |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Zhongshan, Taipei, Taiwan |
Chairperson | David Lee |
Vice Chairman and Secretary-General | Ko Cheng-heng |
| Website | Official website (in Chinese) |
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF; Chinese: 海峽交流基金會; pinyin: Hǎixiá Jiāoliú Jījīnhuì; often abbreviated as 海基會) is a semiofficial organization set up by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to handle technical and/or business matters with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Though technically a private organization, it is funded by the government and under the supervision of the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan. 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 (ARATS).
Due to the complexity of the political and legal status of cross-strait relations and lack of contact between the two sides, the ROC government had to create an intermediary body from the private sector to deal with all 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 after the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.[3]
| No. | Name | Term of Office | Days | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) | 21 November 1990 | 3 January 2005[note 1] | 5157[note 2] |
| — | Johnnason Liu[5] (劉德勳) | 3 January 2005 | 10 June 2005 | 158 |
| 2 | Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) | 10 June 2005 | 21 May 2007 | 710 |
| 3 | Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) | 12 July 2007 | 19 May 2008 | 313 |
| 4 | Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) | 26 May 2008 | 27 September 2012 | 1585 |
| 5 | Lin Join-sane (林中森) | 27 September 2012 | 20 May 2016 | 1331 |
| — | Chen Ter-shing (陳德新) | 20 May 2016 | 12 September 2016 | 115 |
| 6 | Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) | 12 September 2016 | 27 March 2018 | 561 |
| 7 | Katharine Chang (張小月) | 27 March 2018 | 5 June 2020 | 801 |
| 8 | David Lee (李大維) | 5 June 2020 | 3 August 2020 | 59 |
| — | Rock Hsu (許勝雄) | 28 August 2020 | Incumbent | 1405 |
On 11 April 2013, the Executive Yuan approved a bill to open SEF branch offices in Mainland China. That month, ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said the SEF offices in Mainland China will not fly ROC flags, either inside or outside the office buildings, because Taiwan and Mainland China are not officially foreign nations in relation to each other.[6][7][8] In the initial announcement, three offices were planned.[9]
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 presided over the building's official opening ceremony.[1]
The SEF building is adjacent to Dazhi Station of the Taipei Metro on the Brown Line.
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