Soon after the chairwoman and vice chairman of the Council for Cultural Affairs -- Chen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) and Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) -- announced their decisions to become DPP members last week, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said he would be delighted to become a DPP member should the party ask him to join.
President Chen Shui-bian's (
"I find the party's platform compatible to my own views, and I admire the party's contribution to Taiwan's democratization," Chen Ming-tong said on Saturday.
His remarks came as no surprise to analysts and DPP members as he is well know for his close links to the party.
Chen Ming-tong helped draft the DPP government's white papers on cross-strait policy when Chen Shui-bian was running for president in May 2000.
At that time, Chen Ming-tong was a professor at the Graduate Institute of National Development at National Taiwan University. As a professor he specialized in elections, Chinese affairs and Taiwan's democratization process.
His expertise in both cross-strait affairs and local politics is appreciated by the DPP, to which he has provided so much advice that he has been described as a one-man DPP think tank.
Chen Ming-tong's close links to the party allowed him to become the MAC vice chairman after Chen Shui-bian was inaugurated as president in May 2000.
Tung Li-wen (
"In his capacity as MAC vice chairman, he [Chen Ming-tong] can carry out what he and the DPP wish to do regarding cross-strait affairs," Tung said.
DPP lawmaker and spokesman for the New Tide faction Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said that he has known Chen Ming-tong since the two studied together at National Taiwan University 20 years ago.
"It is about time for him to join the party. He has long been the president's personal think tank. His political ideologies, behavior and friends are all close to the DPP," Chiu said.
Chiu added that joining the party didn't matter much when Chen Ming-tong was a professor, but the situation has changed now that Chen is a political appointee.
"The trend in Taiwan is toward party politics," Chiu said.
DPP lawmaker Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) echoed Chiu's remarks yesterday. "It is acceptable for Chen Ming-tong to become a DPP member because his attitude toward cross-strait affairs is consistent with that of most DPP members," she said.
Chen Ming-tong was born in 1955 and earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the department of political science at National Taiwan University.
He then went to Columbia University in 1991 to do research.
His job as MAC vice chairman is his first as a public official.
When the KMT was in power, scholars such as Chen Ming-tong, who was born in Taiwan, were controversial due to their close ties to the opposition.
A scholar with a fervent passion for his subject, Chen often talks about political theories and the process of Taiwan's democratization for hours with reporters or debates these issues with reporters from China. He revels in the feedback he receives.
"My students love my lectures," he has often been heard to say.
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