Zhang Zhijun (; born 1 February 1953) is a Chinese diplomat and politician. From 17 March 2013 to 21 March 2018, he has served as the Minister of the

Taiwan Affairs Office The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency under the State Council of Mainland China. It is responsible for setting and implementing guidelines and policies related to the Republic of China (Taiwan), as stipulate ...

of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

. He is currently the president of the

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS; ; often abbreviated as 海协会 / 海協會) is an organization set up by the People's Republic of China for handling technical and business matters with the Republic of ...

since April 2018.

Education

Zhang studied at Peking University in 1971. He also went overseas to the United Kingdom for student exchange.

Taiwan Affairs Office

11th Cross-Strait Relations Symposium

In March 2013, speaking at the 11th Cross-Strait Relations Symposium in Pingtan,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

, Zhang called for increased quality and efficiency of

cross-strait Cross-Strait relations (sometimes called Mainland–Taiwan relations, or Taiwan-China relations) are the relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). The relationship ...

exchanges and cooperation. The symposium was attended by people from both sides, including some from Taiwan's

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 ...

. He wished to visit Taiwan as well as to meet his counterpart,

Wang Yu-chi Wang Yu-chi () is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of the Executive Yuan since 28 September 2012 until 16 February 2015, when he resigned over the dropping of espionage charges brought against C ...

, the head of the

Mainland Affairs Council The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China in Taiwan. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the cross-strait relations po ...

Zhang-Wang meeting

On 11 February 2014, Zhang met with

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, the first high-level government-to-government official contact between the two sides since the end of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

in 1949. The meeting took place at the Purple Palace hotel in

. Upon meeting with Wang, both of them agreed to establish a direct and regular communication channel between the two sides for future engagement under the

1992 Consensus The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semiofficial representatives of the People's Republic of China (PRC) of mainland China and the Republic of China (ROC) of Taiwan. They are of ...

. They also agreed on finding a solution for health insurance coverage aiming towards Taiwanese students studying in the mainland, on pragmatically establishing SEF and ARATS offices in each other's territory and on studying the feasibility of allowing visits to detained persons once offices have been established. Before both of them shook hands, Zhang referred to Wang as "Minister Wang Yu-chi" without mentioning the name ''Mainland Affairs Council'' and Wang referred Zhang as "TAO Director Zhang Zhijun". However, Mainland China's

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

referred to Wang as the "Responsible Official of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council" () in its Chinese-language news or as the "Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Chief" in its English-language news. On 25–28 June 2014, Zhang paid an official visit to

Taiwan 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 nort ...

Xi-Ma meeting

Regarding the meeting between the head of both sides of the Taiwan Strait by

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from ...

and

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

, Zhang said that a meeting between family members can take place anywhere during any occasion. It needs not take place at any international or multilateral event. He further added that any such meeting can even occur in Mainland China, Taiwan or any third location. On Saturday, 7 November 2015, Xi met Ma in Singapore during Xi's state visit to Singapore.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Zhijun 1953 births Living people Diplomats of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Politicians from Nantong Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangsu