Authorities have detained a man on suspicion of “fabricating” opinion polls with the intention of influencing the Jan. 13 presidential election, prosecutors said yesterday.
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said it questioned four people on Friday for allegedly spreading fabricated presidential poll results through news media and social media.
Prosecutors said they detained former For Public Good Party deputy chairman Hsu Shao-tung (徐少東) on suspicion of contravening the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) based on evidence from bank transactions.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Hsu’s son was released without needing to post bail. Hsu’s alleged co-conspirators, the head of the Kaohsiung Pastel Painting Association, surnamed Wang (王), and the director-general of the Railway Matsu Charity Association, surnamed Lee (李), paid bail of NT$200,000 and NT$100,000 respectively.
Their Chinese contact allegedly wired funds into accounts under Hsu’s and Wang’s names, prosecutors said, adding that Wang was the primary contact.
Investigators found that, under the Chinese agent’s orders, Hsu falsified research results and polls on presidential candidates and forwarded the false information to contacts on Line, they said.
Wang also took out advertisements in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News and the United Daily News, as well as on news Web sites, including Match Portal, Pchome News, Owl News and Life News, to help promote certain candidates, prosecutors said.
The candidates and parties that the fabricated opinion polls favored were not identified.
Prosecutors said that Hsu was also a chief consultant of a “new residents” association, a community organization for newcomers to Taiwan.
The association was accused by prosecutors earlier this month of arranging free trips to China for dozens of people in a bid to “influence” the elections.
“They aimed to use Taiwan’s large new resident population to develop organizations that could be controlled by these hostile foreign powers ... to influence the election, thereby endangering national security,” prosecutors said.
Hsu’s detention was the second case this week involving someone being held incommunicado on suspicion of faking presidential election polls.
On Friday, a court ordered that a reporter be detained in Taichung on suspicion of publishing online eight fake public opinion polls on the presidential election at the instruction of Chinese officials.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said that reporter Lin Hsien-yuan (林獻元), who works for Finger Media, in October asked a self-proclaimed polling expert, Su Yuan-hwa (蘇雲華), to produce a series of false poll results at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party’s Fujian Provincial Committee showing that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential ticket was favored by Taiwanese.
The results, which were shared on other online media platforms, misled the public and were part of China’s attempt to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential election, prosecutors said.
Additional reporting by CNA
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS