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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and