Public prosecutors yesterday indicted a Taiwanese and a Chinese national on charges of funneling money from Chinese sources to fund a Labor Party candidate running for New Taipei City councilor in 2022’s local elections.
New Taipei City prosecutors charged Sun Chih-chuan (孫志全), deputy chairman of the Taiwan-based Chinese Youth Development Union, and Dong Dachi (董笪琦), a Chinese executive at the Federation of Hong Kong Jiangsu Youth, with contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
Evidence indicated that Sun and Dong, using a complex route to hide the Chinese source of funding, transferred about NT$430,000 to fund the election campaign of Wang Cheng (王正), the pro-China unification Labor Party candidate, prosecutors said in a filing.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
Sun and Dong are listed as suspects who allegedly made illegal election donations, promoted infiltration by foreign hostile forces (usually referred to as those based in China and Hong Kong), worked to subvert Taiwan’s national security and social stability, and undermined Taiwan’s sovereignty and democratic constitutional order, as stipulated in the Anti-Infiltration Act.
Prosecutors have also filed separate charges against Wang and his sister Wang Li (王立), accusing them of breaching the Political Donations Act by facilitating and accepting money from Chinese sources.
An investigation showed that Sun and Dong allegedly colluded to transfer 100,000 yuan (US$13,895 at the current exchange rate) in September 2022, with the money coming from Sun’s father-in-law, who owns a trading company. The money was listed on the company’s books as payment for procurement of chemical materials, but it went to Dong’s bank account in Hong Kong. Dong then wired the money to Wang Li to fund for her brother’s election campaign, investigators said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the