Tchen followed his father to various postings and never returned to China to live, except for two years (1954–56) in Taiwan, where the Nationalist government relocated after Communist takeover.
Harold Holt succeeded Robert Menzies as Australian Prime Minister in 1965 and effectively ended the White Australia Policy by altering the immigration law to allow Asian migration.
She was defeated by Tchen for the third position on the combined Liberal-National Party Senate ticket – a rare event in Australian politics.
While Kennett's previous interventions in federal politics had been unsuccessful, his opposition to Hanson caused him to break Party rules which mandated the election of delegates.
In an ironic twist, Tchen was elected on One Nation preferences over the Australian Greens for the final sixth spot and became the second Asian-born migrant to win a seat in either house of the federal parliament after Irina Dunn.
He remained a strong advocate of multiculturalism emphasising the need to seek common purposes rather than identifying differences and of demanding acceptance rather than just tolerance.
Despite the claimed support of Prime Minister John Howard, Tchen suffered the same fate as his predecessor and clearly lost to former lower house MP Michael Ronaldson.
He was an adjunct professor with Swinburne University of Technology at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy at the Faculty of Business and Law.