Editing Straits Exchange Foundation (section)

==History==

Business and civil activities across Taiwan Strait resumed when the armed conflict between the two side ceased after the end of the [[Cold War]]. Due to the complexity of the [[Political status of Taiwan|political]] and [[Legal status of Taiwan|legal]] status of [[cross-strait relations]] and lack of contact between the two opposing governments during the conflict, [[Government of the Republic of China|the ROC government]] had to create an intermediary body from the [[private sector]] to deal with cross-strait matters. Thus on 9 March 1991, the SEF was formally established with the help of the government and private sector funds.

At the same time, the [[Government of China|PRC government]] established ARATS. The creation of these two offices facilitate a new stage in cross-strait relations after they had been virtually non-existent for almost 50 years since the establishment of PRC.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sef.org.tw/ct.asp?xItem=48843&CtNode=3987&mp=300 |title = Straits Exchange Foundation}}</ref>