Taiwan’s Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission to be disbanded

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, August 16: The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) of the government of Taiwan is set to be disbanded by the end of this month, Minister without Portfolio, Hsu Jan-yau told Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CAN) on August 14.

The report said the dissolution of MTAC was discussed by the cabinet over the past month with the agencies that will take over the commission’s duties and if everything goes smoothly, the MTAC will be dissolved at the end of this month at the earliest.

In line with the abolition plan, Taiwan’s top government agency which handles Taiwan’s relationship with China, Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) Department of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, will be renamed the Department of Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia and Tibet. The MAC will shoulder part of the MTAC’s duties while others will be transferred to a new Mongolian and Tibetan cultural center to be set up under the Ministry of Culture.

“After the commission is dissolved, part of its duties will be transferred to the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) Department of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, which will be renamed the Department of Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia and Tibet, and others will be transferred to a new Mongolian and Tibetan cultural center to be set up under the Ministry of Culture,” Hsu Jan-yau was quoted as saying in the report.

The Minister further disclosed that the Executive Yuan has not allocated a budget for the MTAC for 2018.

“The cabinet would formally submit a phase-out bill before the legislative review of the government’s fiscal budget for 2018, which is scheduled for the end of the month,” the Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung said in the report.

According to the report, at present, 472 Mongolians and 648 Tibetans living in Taiwan receives services from the MTAC on a permanent basis and these residents will continue to receive services under the government agencies that are receiving the MTAC’s duties and staff.

Originally set up as a bureau under the interior ministry, the commission was renamed to MTAC in 1929 in accordance with the Nationalist Government Organizational Law.