Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), a Chinese spouse who the Taiwan People’s Party has said it might put on its legislator-at-large list, is closely associated with the Chinese United Front Work Department, a political commentator and a Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislative candidate said yesterday.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and political pundit Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) said that Xu in 2018 addressed an event in China’s Fujian Province organized by the department to promote cross-strait marriages and cultural exchanges.
Xu told the event that “we are proud of being Chinese, this is our national identity and it will never change,” Lee said.
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The event was cosponsored by Taiwanese business associations in China, he added.
Xu attended many such events in China, with media reporting that she represented a “united front” agency, Lee said.
“She has declared her national identity to be Chinese and is proud of it, so how can she become a legislator-at-large in Taiwan?” he asked.
Xu is chairwoman of the Taiwan New Residents’ Development Association.
“Xu is an agent for China’s United Front Work Department,” Lee said. “If she becomes a legislator, it would be the biggest danger to national security in our history. It would mean that the Chinese Communist Party would have direct access to the legislature.”
“I would not accept such a situation and nor would most others,” he said.
Earlier this week, Lee showed photographs of Xu seated in the front row at a “united front” event at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai on Oct. 13, which he said showed her high office in China.
Xu had earlier said she took a trip home to visit her family.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislative candidate Yang Pei-hua (楊佩樺) said that the party has received photographs and documents of Xu as a guest of honor representing “united front” offices at events in China.
Xu attended several events in Yunnan Province in 2018, where she also met with Yunnan’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Chaode (張朝德), Yang said.
Zhang told Xu at the time, “you must educate the children to promote a strong identity with China, and enhance their identification with Chinese culture and nationalism,” Yang added.
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