The Chinese Communist Party has become aware of Taiwanese efforts to crack down on attempts to influence next month’s presidential and legislative elections and is allegedly delaying promised all-expenses-paid-for trips until the following year, a national security source with knowledge of the matter yesterday said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
China has allegedly told its local contacts that if the election results were favorable, the number of people allowed on the trips could be increased, the source said.
Taiwan’s judicial and prosecution system is aware of such developments and is looking into visits to China and whether such visits are connected to alleged vote buying and in contravention of the law, the source said.
Photo: Reuters, Dado Ruvic
Such actions not only puts people in danger of contravening the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), but could also lead to a suspect facing more severe penalties for contravening the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), the source said
Commenting on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia’s (夏立言) visit to China that started on Wednesday, the source said that Hsia might hope to persuade Chinese to desist from paying for Taiwanese borough wardens to visit China.
Hsia’s visit might also be an attempt to convince the CCP to put more effort into arranging preferential tickets for Taiwanese returning to Taiwan to vote, the source said.
The KMT has denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, the national security source said that the CCP has been infiltrating Taiwanese society for many years and has an established routine, with provincial or local governments in China tasked with fostering friendly ties with Taiwanese districts or townships.
While these tactics ensure that Chinese have greater influence on the township level, such influence is harder to carry up to the city level, much less the national level, the source said.
Municipal elections are more challenging to influence than township-level elections, the source said.
China has also been known to invite municipal mayors, county commissioners, academics, religious leaders and local public representatives to visit China and, during such visits, foster an air of pro-unification camaraderie, the source said
The source said that CCP officials would carefully plant phrases such as “voting for another party could bring about cross-strait peace” while pledging “benefits” if the individual could help bring about a change in government.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS