Government Information Office - History

History

In April 1947, the Republic of China government completed all preparations for the implementation of constitutional rule and made the transition from the stage of political suzerainty to that of constitutional government. All ministries, commissions and councils under the Executive Yuan were expanded, and on 23 April, the Executive Yuan created the Government Information Office and agencies for health, irrigation and land affairs. The GIO was formally inaugurated in Nanjing on 2 May 1947, and the Department of International Publicity, originally under the Ministry of Information of the Kuomintang, was placed under it.

On 21 March 1949, then President Chiang Kai-shek promulgated the revision of Articles 3 and 5 of the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan, whereby the organization of the Yuan was streamlined and all agencies were regrouped under eight ministries, two councils and one department. The GIO was dissolved, and the Executive Yuan Council approved at its 52nd session the establishment of an Information Department under the General Secretariat of the Executive Yuan on 5 April 1949. Twenty days later, the headquarters of the Information Department was transferred to Guangzhou along with the central government.

Following the Chinese Civil War and further relocation of the central government to Taipei, Taiwan in December 1949, the Information Department was dissolved in March 1950. On 24 April, the Executive Yuan ordered the establishment of a temporary institution, the Office of Government Spokesman, which was responsible for making press releases.

The original GIO was reactivated on 1 January 1954, in response to changes at home and abroad. In August 1973, the GIO became responsible for matters pertaining to the mass media, originally carried out by the Ministries of the Interior and Education and other related institutions. In addition to its domestic and international information tasks, the GIO assumed responsibilities for publication affairs, motion picture affairs, as well as television and radio broadcasting.

The GIO was formally dissolved on May 20, 2012, with its International Information Department folding into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Domestic Information Department falling under the direct jurisdiction of the Cabinet.