In 1981, Chen started to work for the government as the Director of Qiqihar City Economic Planning Committee. In 1983, he became the mayor of Qiqihar and in 1984, he was appointed Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary and Director of Commission for Restructuring the Economy of Heilongjiang Province. In 1987, he became the vice governor of Heilongjiang Province.[citation needed]
In 1994, he was appointed to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council as vice director, becoming its director in 1997. In 2008, due to the resumption of talks with Taiwan following the election of Ma Ying-jeou, Chen Yun-lin became the second head of ARATS.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
On November 4, 2008, Chen met with his Taiwanese counterpart at the Second Chen-Chiang summit. Chiang Pin-kung, head of Taiwan's SEF. It was the first ever meeting between ARATS and SEF leaders in Taiwan.[2] The meeting lasted from November 3 to 7 in Taipei.[3] The 5-day visit was the highest level meeting between the KMT and the CCP in six decades.[4]Another visit to Taiwan was followed on December 21, 2009.
