Topic: Chen Yunlin

Chen Yunlin (simplified Chinese: 陈云林; traditional Chinese: 陳雲林; pinyin: Chén Yúnlín; born December 1941) is the current chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the body responsible for negotiations with Taiwan in the People's Republic of China.

Chen was born in 1941 in Heishan, Liaoning. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1966. A chemist by training, Chen served in various roles in the government of Heilongjiang province, becoming deputy governor in 1987. In 1994, he was appointed to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, becoming its head in 1997. In 2008, due to the resumption of talks with Taiwan following the election of Ma Ying-jeou to President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Chen Yunlin became the second head of ARATS.

Though nominally a private body, ARATS is directly led by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Chen's new office at ARATS is in the same building complex as his old office at the Taiwan Affairs Office. The ARATS is the body directly responsible for negotiating with the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), its counterpart in Taiwan, which is correspondingly directly led by the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China.