Mark Tang-shan/Tan-sun Chen (), born September 16, 1935, in Tainan Prefecture (now part of Tainan City), Taiwan, is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

politician, former Secretary-General of the Office of the President of Taiwan under former President Chen Shui-bian. He was also previously Foreign Minister of the ROC from 2004 to 2006 (the first

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

member to occupy the position). Before returning to Taiwan, he worked for the United States Department of Commerce for 19 years.

Career in Taiwan politics

Chen became part of the

Taiwan independence 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 northeast ...

movement while he was completing his post-graduate education in the United States. In 1970, he organized the World United Formosans for Independence. After the establishment of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations, Chen Tang-shan became its president from 1979 to 1984. Because of his political views, Chen was put on a blacklist by the Kuomintang government during this time, and was unable to return to Taiwan. He was eventually allowed to return with the advent of Taiwan's democratization. In 1992, Chen joined the

and was elected a member of the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

. In December 1993, he was nominated the candidate of Tainan County Magistrate by the DPP and was elected. He was reelected again in 1997 with 66% of the vote. In 2001, Chen returned to the Legislative Yuan as a representative of Tainan County. He became the Republic of China's thirty-second Foreign Minister in 2004. After Frank Hsieh resigned his Premiership and a subsequent cabinet shuffle, Chen became the Secretary of the Presidential Office. In 2004, Chen gained international attention and prompted substantial criticism worldwide after he commented that Singapore is a " booger-size country" that "holding China's ball sacks" with both hands, known as the "LP incident". Subsequently, the Singaporean Foreign Ministry has issued a statement warning Taiwan authorities to "not belittle Singapore, and avoid using “vulgar words to hurt others". Despite such comment, Singaporean politicians and lawmakers across the board and political spectrum overall refused to be drawn into a war of words or tensions over Chen's comments, which were described as "vulgar" and "undiplomatic", and even prompted criticism from some Taiwanese politicians, who urged him to withdraw such comments to avoid letting Singapore-Taiwan relations from deteriorating over the incident. However, Chen has not since taken back such words, but overall bilateral relations were not otherwise affected. In 2012, Chen was again elected to the

for a four-year term, once again representing Tainan County.

Alleged special fund misuse and acquittal

Wang, Lu, Syková a Chen na Forum 2000 2016

On September 21, 2007, Chen faced charges of using false receipts to write off expenses from a special governmental account; the alleged misuse involved 368,199 Taiwan dollars (12,454 USD) during his time as foreign minister and presidential secretary general between July 2004 and June 2006. Vice President Annette Lu and DPP chairperson Yu Shyi-kun were also indicted on special fund abuse charges on the same day. Subsequently, in 2012, the

Taipei District Court The district courts () are the ordinary trial courts of general jurisdiction under the law of Taiwan. Currently there are 22 district courts under the jurisdiction of Taiwan, the Republic of China (Taiwan). History District courts (, ''chihō-h� ...

dismissed the case against Chen, finding him not guilty of all charges. Both Lu and Yu were similarly found not guilty. The court ruled that all three officials did not improperly use their special allowances and discretionary state affairs funds.

Personal life

He is a distant relative of Japanese politician Renhō.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Mark 1935 births Magistrates of Tainan County Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan National Taiwan University alumni Taiwan independence activists Taiwanese Ministers of Foreign Affairs Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Living people Tainan Members of the Legislative Yuan Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star Taiwanese expatriates in the United States United States Department of Commerce officials Members of the 8th Legislative Yuan Members of the 5th Legislative Yuan Members of the 2nd Legislative Yuan Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan