Chan was first elected to the National Parliament in the December 2001 election[1] and served as Minister for Finance and Treasury from March 30, 2002, until December 8, 2002.[4] He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs on December 12, 2002, and served in that position until May 5, 2006, when he was removed from office following the resignation of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister on April 26, 2006.
Chan was a member of the Bills and Legislation Committee in Parliament from May 2006 until the end of his term in 2010.[1]
He did not stand as a candidate to defend his seat in the August 2010 general election, standing down from Parliament.[6]Moses Garu succeeded him as MP for West Guadalcanal.[7]
In 2011, he was appointed as ambassador to Taiwan. The Solomons are one of the few countries to recognise the Republic of China rather than the People's Republic of China, and Chan had supported continued relations with Taiwan when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs.[8] He began to serve as ambassador on 21 March 2012.[9]