Chang An-le (張安樂), a fugitive former leader of the Bamboo Union gang, said in China yesterday that he would seek to return to Taiwan “in the near future” to help push Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model for Taiwan, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported.
Chang, also known as “White Wolf,” established the China Unification Promotion Party in September 2005. He has since shown support for the “one China” principle and spoken out against Taiwanese independence.
He said yesterday that he did not mind being labeled a sympathizer of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or a gangster and that he simply wanted to return to Taiwan to make “some contributions” to improving cross-strait ties.
“I want more Taiwanese to understand that the only way to maintain the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait is to complete negotiations on the ‘one country, two systems’ [principle] with the CCP,” he said. “I hope I can do something to push peaceful unification as long as I am alive.”
After he returns, Chang said he would try to form a “third political force” to cultivate politicians who sympathize with the CCP and nominate candidates to run for public office. They would also establish local offices around the nation to push the “one country, two systems” model implemented in Hong Kong following retrocession in 1997.
Although Taipei and Beijing signed an agreement on mutual judicial assistance and cross-strait cooperation to fight crime in June 2009, Chang — who is wanted by Taiwanese authorities and has a successful business career in China — has remained a fugitive since he fled to China in 1996.
“If I committed any crime, it might have been my involvement with a crime syndicate,” he said. “However, what matters is whether a person is involved in the crime the syndicate commits rather than whether that person is in the crime organization.”
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) was low-key about Chang’s plans to return to Taiwan.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said it was a matter of public security and that the media should turn to law enforcement agencies for comment.
Asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the party had no knowledge of Chang’s plans to return to Taiwan and added that if he were to return, the government would handle the matter in accordance with the law.
Su declined to comment on Chang’s alleged close ties with some KMT members.
In 2007, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) elder sister, Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), met Chang during a campaign party for Ma, who was running for president at the time, in Shenzhen, China.
Ma Ying-jeou’s campaign team later confirmed the meeting, but denied that Chang had donated money to Ma Ying-jeou’s campaign.
Chang is also believed to have orchestrated a series of “protests” against a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama during a visit to Taiwan in August 2009 and to have mobilized gang members to ensure security at political events in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official said there were unresolved questions about Chang’s relationship with the KMT and that the government should make it clear he would still be prosecuted if he returned to Taiwan.
“The KMT still owes us an explanation on their relationship with the … fugitive,” the official said on condition of anonymity
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH, VINCENT Y. CHAO AND STAFF WRITER
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS