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Chen Ming-tong
陳明通
Director-General of the National Security Bureau
In office
23 February 2021 – 31 January 2023
PresidentTsai Ing-wen
Preceded byChiu Kuo-cheng
Succeeded byTsai Ming-yen
Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council
In office
19 March 2018 – 22 February 2021
Prime MinisterWilliam Lai
Su Tseng-chang
DeputyChiu Chui-cheng
Lee Li-chen
Preceded byKatharine Chang
Lin Cheng-yi (acting)
Succeeded byChiu Tai-san
In office
10 April 2007 – 20 May 2008
Prime MinisterSu Tseng-chang
Chang Chun-hsiung
Preceded byJoseph Wu
Succeeded byLai Shin-yuan
Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council
In office
20 May 2000 – 19 May 2004
MinisterTsai Ing-wen
Personal details
Born (1955-11-25) 25 November 1955 (age 68)
Taichung County, Taiwan
NationalityTaiwanese (Taiwan)
Political party Democratic Progressive Party
Alma materNational Taiwan University

Chen Ming-tong (Chinese: 陳明通; pinyin: Chén Míngtōng; born 25 November 1955) is a Taiwanese politician and currently the Director-General of the National Security Bureau. He was the Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council from 2018 to 2021 and 2007 to 2008.

Academic career[edit]

Chen obtained his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in political science from National Taiwan University (NTU) in 1979, 1981 and 1991, respectively. Chen worked as a researcher in the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Taipei City Government 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, including Chiu Chih-wei, Kao Chia-yu, Lin Chih-chien, Pan Men-an, Cheng Wen-tsan and Shen Fa-hui.[1]

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.[2][3] Then he was fired by the university.[4][5] In 2024, he published a book with Puma Shen's preface, claiming that the "theses event" was political persecution influcented by mainland China.[6] However, the university declared that Lin and cheng had acept the degree cancellation, so Chen needs to apologize to the public as an advisor of master graduates.[7]

Political career[edit]

He led the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) between 2007 and 2008, then returned to NTU. In 2018, he succeeded Katharine Chang as MAC minister.[8][9]

National Security Bureau[edit]

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 remained in office and that the Russian invasion of Ukraine 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 was going to be after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to be held later in 2022.[10]

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.[11][12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lin, Sean (26 July 2020). "KMT labels DPP officials plagiarists". Taipei Times. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  2. ^ 中時新聞網. "陳明通慘了!台大:將組審定會查是否違反學術倫理". 中時新聞網 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  3. ^ "鄭文燦國發所學位遭摘 台大撤銷公告已發至全台大學". 聯合新聞網 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  4. ^ "陳明通GG了!多次護航林智堅 台大:不再應聘兼課". 菱傳媒 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 16 August 2022. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  5. ^ "林智堅論文門事件波及 陳明通傳請辭台大教職". 自由時報電子報 (in Chinese). 16 August 2022. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  6. ^ "踩賴魁紅線? 沈伯洋推薦陳明通新書「學倫」". TVBS (in Chinese). 27 March 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  7. ^ "陳明通出書盼為林智堅平反 台大籲負起指導責任對外道歉". 公視新聞網 (in Chinese). 25 March 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  8. ^ Huang, Jewel (17 April 2007). "Newsmaker: Chen Ming-tong is part of the strategy". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  9. ^ Hsu, Stacy (24 February 2018). "Reshuffle targets security, diplomacy". Taipei Times. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  10. ^ China unlikely to invade Taiwan this fall: intelligence chief OCAC.R.O.C.(Taiwan) – News 2022/03/25
  11. ^ 台湾情报首长陈明通有关台海安全和中共二十大报告:两个关注要点背后的一个关键要素, BBC中文, retrieved May 14th 2022
  12. ^ TAIWAN - CHINA Taiwan’s intelligence chief says Beijing not likely to launch invasion next fall AsiaNews 03/25/2022

External links[edit]

  • Media related to Chen Ming-tong at Wikimedia Commons
  • Quotations related to Chen Ming-tong at Wikiquote

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