Tien Hung-mao

Tien Hung-mao (Chinese: 田弘茂; pinyin: Tián Hóngmào; Wade–Giles: Tʻien² Hung²-mao⁴; born 7 November 1938) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 20 May 2000 until 1 February 2002.

Career

Tien received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1969, where he wrote his dissertation on political development in China from 1927 to 1937. Thereafter he was a university professor for more than twenty years, and naturalised as a U.S. citizen. After he moved back to Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui had asked him twice in the 1990s to serve in the Executive Yuan Council, but each time he refused; reportedly, the requirement that he renounce U.S. citizenship was a major barrier. He eventually accepted Chen Shui-bian's offer to become Minister of Foreign Affairs, and renounced his U.S. citizenship on 11 May, eight days before taking office. He later stated in an interview that he did not regret this step at all, because he "loved Taiwan". After his term ended, he took up a new post as the head of Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. He resigned the position in 2004, and later led the Institute of National Policy Research. In 2016, Tsai Ing-wen named Tien the chair of the Straits Exchange Foundation. He left the position in March 2018.

Selected works

• Political development in China, 1927–1937. Doctoral dissertation. University of Wisconsin–Madison. 1969. OCLC 47888967.
• Government and politics in Kuomintang China, 1927–1937. Stanford University. 1972. ISBN 9780804708128. OCLC 554256.
• Mainland China, Taiwan, and U.S. policy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain. 1983. OCLC 8689445.
• The great transition: political and social change in the Republic of China. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press. 1989. ISBN 9780817987817. OCLC 18715581.

References