Chiang Pin-kung, former vice chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, passed away on December 10 in Taipei, the KMT said in a statement.

Chiang was also the former chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and former vice president of the Taiwan-based Council of the Summit for Entrepreneurs Across the Taiwan Straits.

Born in 1932, Chiang was elected vice chairman of the KMT and SEF chairman in 2003 and 2008, respectively.

Founded in the early 1990s, the Chinese mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the SEF are authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Straits affairs.

Heads of the ARATS and SEF conducted eight rounds of talks and signed 18 agreements to develop cross-Straits relations while Chiang served as SEF chairman, a post he resigned in September 2012.