Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission
The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) was a ministry-level commission of the Executive Yuan in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was disbanded on September 15, 2017.[1][2]
蒙藏委員會 Měng-Zàng Wěiyuánhuì | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1636 (as Mongolian Bureau) April 1912 (as Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Agency) 1 February 1929 (as MTAC) |
Dissolved | 15 September 2017 |
Superseding agency | |
Jurisdiction | Qing dynasty Republic of China |
Headquarters | Zhongzheng, Taipei |
Parent agency | Executive Yuan |
Website | www.mtac.gov.tw |
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 蒙藏委員會 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 蒙藏委员会 | ||||||||||||
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History
It was originally created during the Qing Dynasty in 1636 as Mongolian Bureau (Chinese: 蒙古衙門; Manchu: ᠮᠣᠩᡤᠣ
ᠵᡠᡵᡤᠠᠨ), later reformed into Lifan Yuan in 1639, and oversaw the relationship of the Qing court to its Mongolian and Tibetan territories. During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, the bureau was renamed to Minority Affairs Council. In 1906, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, it was renamed to Ministry of Minority Affairs (理藩部).
Following the Xinhai Revolution and the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the section was replaced by Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Agency under the Ministry of the Interior in April 1912. In July 1912, the agency was again renamed as Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs and placed under the State Affairs Yuan. In 1914, it was reorganized and being placed directly under the supervision of President. On 1 February 1929, it was finally changed to Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) with accordance to the Nationalist Government Organizational Law.[3] After the Communist revolution in 1949, and the central government of China's relocation to Taiwan, formerly a Qing province turned colony that was acquired from Japan in 1945 after the end of World War II, the MTAC ceased its activities in Tibet and Mongolia, although it served as a governmental body which assisted in the relationship between ethnic Mongols and Tibetans in Taiwan and increasing the communication between the Taiwanese and the Mongols as well as the Tibetans.[4]
After the 1959 Tibetan uprising, Chiang Kai-shek announced in his Letter to Tibetan Compatriots (Chinese: 告西藏同胞書; pinyin: Gào Xīzàng Tóngbāo Shū) that the ROC's policy would be to help the Tibetan people overthrow the People's Republic of China's rule in Tibet. The MTAC sent secret agents to India to disseminate pro-Kuomintang (KMT) and anti-Communist propaganda among Tibetan exiles. From 1971 to 1978, the MTAC also recruited ethnic Tibetan children from India and Nepal to study in Taiwan, with the expectation that they would work for a ROC government that returned to the mainland.
On August 14, 2017, the Executive Yuan, now led by the independence minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, announced that the MTAC would be dissolved by the end of the year. No budget was allocated to the MTAC for 2018. Employees and responsibilities of the commission were re-assigned to two places; the Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center under the Ministry of Culture, and the expanded Department of Hong Kong, Macao, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet Affairs under the Mainland Affairs Council.[5][6]
Organizational structure
- Commissioners
- Secretary's Office
- Counselor's Office
- Department of Mongolian Affairs
- Department of Tibetan Affairs
- Department of General Affairs
- Compilation and Translation
- Accounting Office
- Personnel Office
- Civil Service Ethics Office
Ministers
Political Party: Kuomintang Democratic Progressive Party Non-partisan/ unknown
Other notable members
Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center
The Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center (Chinese: 蒙藏文化中心; pinyin: Měng-Zàng Wénhuà Zhōngxīn) was originally managed by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. It is located in the Daan District of Taipei on Qingtian Street near the Taipei Grand Mosque and Mandarin Training Center. The center was established in 1993 in the former residence of the Changkya Khutukhtu, Lobsang Pelden Tenpe Dronme, who fled to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The building incorporates traditional Tibetan architectural features. It also includes an exhibition area for cultural artifacts, a reading room, lecture hall and prayer hall for the Changkya Khutukhtu.[7] After the commission was disbanded, the center's management was turned over to the Ministry of Culture.
See also
- Executive Yuan
- Republic of China (1912–49)
- Tibet (1912–51)
- Mongolia (1911–24)
- Mongolia–Taiwan relations
- Similar government agencies
- Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (Yuan dynasty)
- Lifan Yuan (Qing dynasty)
- State Ethnic Affairs Commission (People's Republic of China)
References
- "Taiwan News Quick Take - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. 16 September 2017.
- "蒙藏委員會9月15日已走入歷史 - 政治 - 自由時報電子報". 自由電子報. October 11, 2017.
- Benson, Linda (1990). The Ili Rebellion : the Moslem challenge to Chinese authority in Xinjiang, 1944-1949. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-87332-509-7.
- Henry George Wandesforde Woodhead & Henry Thurburn Montague Bell (1932). The China Year Book. North China Daily News & Herald. p. 28. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) - "Taiwan calls time on Mongolia and Tibet affairs commission". South China Morning Post. 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
- Charlier, Phillip (August 14, 2017). "Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission to be Dissolved: Lim Applauds".
- "Mongolian and Tibetan Cultural Center: Introduction". Archived from the original on 2017-04-17. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
External links
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