Overseas Community Affairs Council

Template:Short description Template:Template other The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC; Template:Zh) is a cabinet-level council of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The council was founded in 1926 in Canton (Guangzhou) in Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province.

Its main objective is to serve as a cultural, education, economic and informational exchanges organization between Taiwan and the overseas Taiwanese and Chinese descent communities. Its remit is not limited to expatriates from Taiwan, but includes all ethnic Taiwanese and Chinese living in a foreign country who "identify with the Republic of China (ROC)".

With the evolution of the political landscape and the Taiwanese localization movement, the organization now puts emphasis not only in Standard Chinese, but also on Taiwanese, Hakka, and other Taiwanese cultural expressions. It offers information about aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, and its overseas offices may serve, in addition to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices.

Organizational structures

• Department of Policy Research and Development
• Department of Overseas Chinese Network Services
• Department of Overseas Chinese Education
• Department of Overseas Chinese Business
• Department of Overseas Chinese Student Counseling
• Secretariat Office
• Personnel Office
• Civil Service Ethics Office
• Accounting and Statistics Office
• Information Management Office
• Overseas Chinese News Agency
• Legal Affairs Committee

Title changes

Name	Time in use
Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission	October 1926 – April 2006
Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission	April 2006 – 1 September 2012
Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission	1 September 2012 – 12 November 2012
Overseas Community Affairs Council	Since 12 November 2012

The English title of the council was changed from "Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission" to "Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission" in 2006, officially to "avoid being confused as a governmental body of the People's Republic of China", under the desinicization policies of independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party. However, its English acronym OCAC and Chinese name remained the same, to reduce the expense for its official title change. After the Kuomintang renewed its mandate in the 2012 election, the official English name was changed back to the original.

However, in November 2012 there was a controversy when it was discovered that the OCAC used simplified Chinese characters in some of its teaching materials. Amid threats in November 2012 from Democratic Progressive Party legislators to freeze the OCAC's budget, its director relented to demands to rename the OCAC to the ROC (Taiwan) Overseas Community Affairs Council.

Ministers

Political Party:

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No.	Name	Term of Office		Days	Political Party	Cabinet
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 1	Chen Shuren	27 April 1932	1 May 1947		Kuomintang	Wang Jingwei Chiang Kai-shek II H. H. Kung Chiang Kai-shek III T. V. Soong Chang Ch'ün
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 2	Template:Ill	1 May 1947	28 December 1948		Kuomintang	Chang Ch'ün Weng Wenhao Sun Fo
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 3	Dai Kuisheng	28 December 1948	19 May 1950		Kuomintang	Sun Fo He Yingqin Yan Xishan Chen Cheng I
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 4	George Yeh	19 May 1950	16 April 1952		Kuomintang	Chen Cheng I
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 5	Zheng Yanfen	16 April 1952	16 July 1958		Kuomintang	Chen Cheng I Yu Hung-chun
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 6	Template:Ill	16 July 1958	24 June 1960		Kuomintang	Chen Cheng II
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 7	Template:Ill	24 June 1960	3 December 1962		Kuomintang	Chen Cheng II
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 8	Kao Hsin	3 December 1962	1 June 1972		Kuomintang	Chen Cheng II Yen Chia-kan
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 9	Template:Ill	1 June 1972	1 June 1984		Kuomintang	Chiang Ching-kuo Sun Yun-suan
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 10	Template:Ill	1 June 1984	27 February 1993		Kuomintang	Yu Kuo-hua Lee Huan Hau Pei-tsun
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 11	John Chang	27 February 1993	10 June 1996		Kuomintang	Lien Chan
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 12	James C. Y. Chu	10 June 1996	5 February 1998		Kuomintang	Lien Chan Vincent Siew
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 13	Template:Ill	5 February 1998	20 May 2000		Kuomintang	Vincent Siew
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 14	Chang Fu-mei	20 May 2000	19 May 2008		Democratic Progressive Party	Tang Fei Chang Chun-hsiung I Yu Shyi-kun Frank Hsieh Su Tseng-chang I Chang Chun-hsiung II
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 15	Wu Ying-yih	20 May 2008	1 August 2013		Kuomintang	Liu Chao-shiuan Wu Den-yih Chen Chun Jiang Yi-huah
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 16	Chen Shyh-kwei	1 August 2013	19 May 2016		Kuomintang	Jiang Yi-huah Mao Chi-kuo Chang San-cheng
style="background:Template:Party color; color:black;" | 17	Wu Hsin-hsing	20 May 2016	20 May 2020			Lin Chuan William Lai Su Tseng-chang II
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 18	Template:Ill	20 May 2020	30 January 2023		Democratic Progressive Party	Su Tseng-chang II
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 19	Hsu Chia-ching	31 January 2023	Designate		Democratic Progressive Party	Chen Chien-jen

Transportation

The council is accessible within walking distance North East from NTU Hospital Station of the Taipei Metro.

See also

• Overseas Taiwanese
• Overseas Chinese
• Political status of Taiwan
• Executive Yuan
• Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning
• Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in Mainland China

External links

• Overseas Community Affairs Council, Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Overseas Community Affairs Council, Republic of China (Taiwan) (archive of old version)