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 stipul ...

of the State Council. He is currently the president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits 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 ...

, Zhang called for increased quality and efficiency of cross-strait exchanges and cooperation. The symposium was attended by people from both sides, including some from Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party. He wished to visit Taiwan as well as to meet his counterpart, Wang Yu-chi, 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 ...

Zhang-Wang meeting

On 11 February 2014, Zhang met with Wang Yu-chi in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and 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 main ...

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 no ...

Xi-Ma meeting

Regarding the meeting between the head of both sides of the Taiwan Strait by Ma Ying-jeou and Xi Jinping, 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