A 25-minute investigative documentary aired by Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV has shed some light on how pro-unification groups operate in Taiwan, including by reportedly paying people to attend events and asking the police for the names of independence advocates.
The documentary was produced by Lynn Lee (李成琳) and seeks to draw attention to activities of pro-unification groups in Taiwan, most notably the Concentric Patriotism Association (CPA, 愛國同心會) and the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), whose members have grabbed headlines by attacking independence advocates and Falun Gong members staging a sit-in outside Taipei 101.
The network sent an undercover reporter posing as a Chinese visitor to Taiwan in an attempt to infiltrate the CPA.
Photo: Chen Wei-tse, Taipei Times
During the reporter’s conversations with CPA executive director Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉), a Chinese immigrant, Zhang told him that the association paid people between NT$800 and NT$900 per day to wave the national flag of the People’s Republic of China.
Zhang told the reporter that it is illegal to take money from China, but it is legal to accept money from China-based Taiwanese businesspeople, such as CPA head Zhou Qinjun (周慶峻), who she said would often receive “special care” from the Chinese government.
“Authorities in China know which businesses support unification and they will do their best to make sure you do not lose money,” Zhang told the reporter.
The CPA is very careful when recruiting people, requesting that they show their Chinese identification cards, apparently out of fear that members might disclose its activities to outsiders, the documentary said.
“I don’t trust Taiwanese. I only trust Chinese, because as Chinese we all have relatives in China,” Zhou said. “You cannot disclose what we do here to outsiders. If you do that, you might not be affected, but your relatives in China will get hurt.”
The researcher also filmed a telephone conversation between Zhou and what appeared to be a Taiwanese police officer, in which the CPA head asked the officer for a list of names of people who support independence at his precinct.
“First, I hope to get a list of independence supporters. Second, I’m sending him a warning: Don’t think about being pro-independence or I’ll come after you,” Zhou said after the telephone call.
As for the operations of the CUPP, a CPA member said that triads were using the party to “whitewash” their reputations.
“Right now, all kinds of triads are in the CUPP. Why have they joined the party? There is only one reason: to whitewash their reputations,” the member said. “They can have a sign that says they’re a CUPP branch office, but inside it is a triad branch.”
CUPP founder Chang An-le (張安樂), the former Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) gang leader known as the “White Wolf,” is facing investigations for allegedly receiving funding from China to carry out destabilizing activities in Taiwan.
When contacted yesterday, National Police Agency officials said they needed to verify the details of the al-Jazeera report and could not yet respond to the allegations.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that while Taiwan is a democratic and free nation where different political stances are respected, the council opposes the use of violence or coercive means for any political causes.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS