Joseph Wu

Joseph Wu 吳釗燮 PhD
5th ROC Representative for United States
In office 10 April 2007 – 26 July 2008
Preceded by	David Lee
Succeeded by	Jason Yuan
Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan
In office 20 May 2004 – 10 April 2007
Preceded by	Tsai Ing-wen
Succeeded by	Chen Ming-tong
Personal details
Born	(1954-10-31) October 31, 1954 Changhua County, Taiwan
Nationality	Taiwan
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Alma mater	National Chengchi University University of Missouri Ohio State University
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Political scientist

Joseph Wu or Wu Chao-hsieh (Chinese: 吳釗燮; pinyin: Wú Zhāoxiè; born 1954) was formerly the chief representative of Taiwan to the United States as the head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C.. He was appointed to that position in mid-April 2007 by President Chen Shui-bian to succeed his predecessor, David Lee.

Educational background

Prior to entering politics, he was an academic political scientist, finishing his PhD in political science in 1989 at Ohio State University. He wrote papers critical of the PRC while in the United States. He served as a teacher and research assistant in the political science department of Ohio State University in the United States, and as deputy director of the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

Rise in politics

Formerly the Deputy Secretary General of the Presidential Office for President Chen Shui-bian, Wu was appointed the chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, the body charged with coordinating relations with Mainland China (the People's Republic of China), by Chen in May 2004.

His appointment as Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council proved somewhat controversial due to his reputation as a supporter of Taiwan independence, especially in light of the simultaneous appointment as foreign minister of former independence activist Mark Chen. Wu was the only non-Kuomintang representative of the ROC to the United States.

His tenure as head of TECRO lasted one year and three months.^[1]

Cross-strait relations

With the approved bill by the ROC Cabinet on 11 April 2013 to established Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) branch office in Mainland China and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) office in Taiwan, Joseph, who were once the ROC Minister of Mainland Affairs Council said that for ARATS office to be established in Taiwan, it needs to have three prerequisite, which are that office should never evolved to become the one like PRC Liaison Office in Hong Kong, office's mandate must be clearly defined and the officers must adhere to the international diplomatic regulations.^[2]

References

China's Ambassadors to the U.S. Qing ministers to the U.S. 1875–1912 Chen Lanbin 1875–81 Zheng Zaoru 1881–85 Zhang Yinheng 1885–89 Cui Guoyin 1889–93 Yang Ru 1893–96 Wu Tingfang 1896–1902 Liang Cheng 1902–07 Wu Tingfang 1907–09 Zhang Yintang 1909–11 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1911–12 ROC's envoys to the U.S. 1912–35 Zhang Yintang 1912–13 Xia Xiefu 1913–15 V. K. Wellington Koo 1915–20 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1920–29 Wu Chaoshu 1929–31 Yan Huiqing 1931–33 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1933–35 ROC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1935–79 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1935–36 Wang Zhengting 1936–38 Hu Shih 1938–42 Wei Tao-ming 1942–46 V. K. Wellington Koo 1946–56 Hollington Tong 1956–58 George Yeh 1958–61 Tsiang Tingfu 1961–65 Zhou Shukai 1965–71 James Shen 1971–79 Taiwanese representatives to the U.S. 1979–present Xia Gongquan 1979–81 Cai Weiping 1981–82 Frederick Chien 1982–88 Ding Maoshi 1988–94 Lu Zhaozhong 1994–96 Jason Hu 1996–97 Chen Xifan 1997–2000 Cheng Jianren 2000–04 David Lee 2004–07 Joseph Wu 2007–08 Jason Yuan 2008–12 King Pu-tsung 2012–14 Shen Lyu-shun 2014– Chiefs of the PRC Liaison Office in the U.S. 1973–79 Huang Zhen 1973–77 Chai Zemin 1978–79 PRC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1979–present Chai Zemin 1979–82 Zhang Wenjin 1983–85 Han Xu 1985–89 Zhu Qizhen 1989–93 Li Daoyu 1993–98 Li Zhaoxing 1998–2001 Yang Jiechi 2001–05 Zhou Wenzhong 2005–10 Zhang Yesui 2010–13 Cui Tiankai 2013–present