Photo source of Chen Mingtong, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council who was transferred to the position of "National Security Director": Taiwanese media has just ended the Lunar New Year and everyone has just started work. Changes in personnel arrangements related to Taiwan's

Chen Mingtong, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, was transferred to the position of "National Security Director" Source: Taiwan media

The Lunar New Year has just ended and everyone has just started work. Changes in personnel arrangements related to Taiwan's "national security" have been reported. Zhang Dunhan, spokesperson of the Cai Office, said on February 19 A press conference was held in the evening of the same day to announce the new "national security" personnel adjustments. Tsai Ing-wen also expressed through social platforms that in view of the impact and possible impact of the new regional and international situation on China-U.S.-Taiwan Strait relations, as well as the global political and economic changes affected by the post-epidemic era, the "national security" team must carry out The missions and formations were redeployed, and it was said that the three "iron triangles" would be positioned to maximize combat effectiveness.

1. The Tsai Ing-wen administration determined that the "national security" issue mainly lies in the mainland's Taiwan-related work

The new personnel adjustments of the "national" security team include Yan Defa, who was transferred from the head of Taiwan's defense department to the advisory committee of the "National Security Council"; Qiu Guozheng, who was transferred from the National Security Bureau to the head of Taiwan's defense department, Chen Mingtong, who was transferred from the Mainland Affairs Council Chairman to the National Security Bureau, and Qiu Taisan, the newly appointed Mainland Affairs Council Chairman.

As a result, what Tsai Ing-wen calls three "iron triangles" are formed. According to Tsai Ing-wen's Facebook, first of all, in the "iron triangle" of foreign affairs, there are secretary-general of the Tsai Ing-wen office Li Dawei , head of the foreign affairs department Wu Zhaoxie, Xiao Meiqin, the representative to the United States, followed by Chen Mingtong, the "Director of National Security" in the "iron triangle" of cross-strait affairs, Qiu Taisan, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, and Zhan Zhihong, vice chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, and finally the "iron triangle" of defense and security. On the "triangle" side are Yan Defa, the "National Security Council Advisory Committee member", Qiu Guozheng, the head of Taiwan's defense department, and Huang Shuguang, the chief of staff.

Tsai Ing-wen said that these four important members of the "National Security" team have a high degree of professionalism and rich experience, and can get started immediately without fumbling, which meets the task requirements of the new stage. Tsai Ing-wen hopes that under her leadership and the leadership of "Secretary-General of the National Security Council" Gu Lixiong, she will continue to implement defense reforms and strengthen combat capabilities, as well as continue to deepen friendly cooperation with countries with similar ideals, and maintain peace, stability and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and the region. Development, by coordinating the overall "national security" strategic plan to maximize the combat power of the three "iron triangles".

In fact, among the four people, the most "dumb" person should be Yan Defa, who was transferred from the former head of Taiwan's defense department to the "National Security Council Advisory Committee". Although he is also nominally at the rank of "minister", However, there is still a big difference in the actual power of management between the head of Taiwan's defense department and the "National Security Council Advisory Committee". I wonder if Yan Defa "can't explain the pain". As for the most controversial ones, they are Chen Mingtong, who was transferred from Mainland Affairs Council Chairman to "National Security Director", and Qiu Taisan, the newly appointed Mainland Affairs Council Chairman.

Although during Chen Shui-bian's administration, there was a precedent of breaking past traditions and introducing police personnel to serve in the " National Security Bureau " due to certain factors, however, after the subsequent administrations of Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen, they have only formed a " Among the three deputy directors of the National Security Bureau, one is a military officer, one is a police officer, and one is a civilian. The "Director of National Security" is still mainly from the military or police system, but this time the "National Security Bureau" "Personnel adjustment, Tsai Ing-wen let Chen Mingtong, who is a scholar and has no professional military, police or intelligence work experience, take charge of the post of "Director of National Security" as a "pure scholar", which highlights that the Tsai Ing-wen authorities have raised the cross-strait situation to " The purpose behind the consideration of national security is attracting attention.

2. Chen Mingtong’s taking office may block cross-strait exchanges with security intelligence work

According to the provisions of Taiwan’s so-called “National Intelligence Work Act”, the “National Security Bureau” is the competent authority for regulating, supervising, and integrating intelligence work, as well as the management and incentives of related personnel. , under the principle that the "National Security Bureau" as the competent authority is responsible for the unified guidance, coordination and support of the operations of various intelligence agencies, the following information that is sufficient to affect the security or interests of the island is collected, analyzed, processed and used.

Although the statutory intelligence agencies refer to the "National Security Bureau", the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Telecommunications Development Office, and the Military Security Corps, there are also provisions in the "National Intelligence Work Act", including the Maritime Patrol Office, the Political Operations Bureau, Units such as the Military Police Headquarters, General Staff Headquarters Information and Telecommunications Command, "Police Agency", "Immigration Agency" and the Investigation Bureau of the Legal Affairs Department are also regarded as the same when their business scope involves intelligence matters. Intelligence agencies must also accept the unified guidance and coordination of intelligence work from the National Security Bureau.

The National Security Bureau, which is subordinate to the National Security Council at the national security level, has long been run by military generals. It was not until 2007 that Xu Huiyu, who had served as deputy chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council and "Administrator of Coast Patrol", became the first "civilian director" , and therefore, the "National Security Bureau" has always been regarded as focusing more on military intelligence. In this personnel reorganization of the "National Security" team, Chen Mingtong, who is regarded as the "China expert" of the Democratic Progressive Party, took over the position of "National Security Director". He is the second "literary" National Security Director after Xu Huiyou. However, the difference is that Xu Huiyou still He has a police qualification from the "Coastal Patrol Department", while Chen Mingtong is a "pure scholar".

Chen Mingtong graduated from National Taiwan University with a Ph.D. in political science. He has been teaching for more than 30 years. He has been a lecturer and thesis advisor for courses on mainland China’s party and government and cross-strait relations for a long time at the National Development Research Institute of National Taiwan University, and has also served as a thesis advisor. He frequently travels in and out of China for academic exchanges and research. When he returned to serve as the Mainland Affairs Council in March 2018, Chen Mingtong even publicly stated that no one among the previous Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council has been to the Mainland more than he did before taking over as Chairman. He not only traveled across the country many times, but also became familiar with academics and politicians on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

In fact, when Tsai Ing-wen was the chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Chen Mingtong served as his deputy. Therefore, after returning to serve as the Mainland Affairs Council in March 2018, he was regarded as the person best able to accurately grasp and implement Tsai Ing-wen's cross-strait policies. people. Therefore, the appointment of Chen Ming-tung to take charge of the National Security Bureau also shows that under the new international and cross-Strait situation, Taiwan's security intelligence work will pay more attention to breaking through the existing framework and strengthening mainland China's analysis and early warning of political intentions in cross-Strait relations. Zhang Dunhan told reporters It was also stated at the meeting that the most important job of the "National Security Bureau" is to understand and master mainland China, so Tsai Ing-wen hopes to draw on Chen Mingtong's rich practical experience to lead the "National Security" team's professional analysis and accurate interpretation of the cross-strait situation. . However, this will inevitably make cross-strait exchanges, which were originally difficult to carry out under the epidemic, even more isolated and difficult to carry out.

After all, the "Director of National Security" is actually in charge of things. As far as the actual power of management is concerned, arrangements such as funding are all under the authority of the "Director of National Security". Therefore, Chen Mingtong holds real power. In other words, "it is better to be an official than to be in charge." , although the "National Security Bureau" is subordinate to the "National Security Council", as the head of the security intelligence work supervisory unit, the "National Security Director" may even have much greater power than the "Secretary-General of the National Security Council" who is responsible for planning major policies. , The purpose of letting Chen Mingtong take over as "Director of National Security" is because he is familiar with the background of cross-strait exchanges and is more suitable to take the leading role in the search for mainland Taiwan-related intelligence and information and the political investigation and prevention of Taiwan's reunification . (Author Xiao Hengzhong is a researcher at the Center for Taiwan and East Asia Studies at Central China Normal University and a Ph.D. at Peking University and Chinese Culture University)