Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) yesterday demanded that the government fix loopholes on security measures after former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇), convicted for selling sensitive data to two Chinese people, live-streamed an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan on Friday.
Formerly a spokeswoman for Taiwan People’s Party’s Taoyuan chapter, Ma was expelled from the party on Jan. 6, a day after she was detained on suspicion of having received NT$1 million (US$31,595) from China to fund her legislative election campaign in exchange for intelligence.
She was indicted in March for allegedly meeting with Chinese “involved in Taiwan’s affairs” during a trip to China in April last year, and the two sides discussed Ma providing intelligence about Taiwan in exchange for funding.
Photo: screen grab from The Grass Media’s YouTube channel
The Taoyuan District Court in August sentenced her to eight months in prison for selling information such as names, titles, telephone numbers of some people working in the Presidential Office, Legislative Yuan, Executive Yuan and National Security Bureau to two Chinese.
Ma has filed an appeal. She does not need to serve the sentence before a final verdict is reached on her case.
Wu yesterday demanded security measures to be increased to prohibit Ma from accessing the Legislative Yuan.
“Ma was convicted for selling private data to China, and she is a serious concern for our national security,” Wu said.
“How can she just get inside, and live-stream from the second-floor gallery inside the legislature?” she asked.
“I found out that she got inside by saying she is a member of the media,” Wu said.
“Stronger security measures are needed to prevent leaking of confidential materials, as she is a convict for selling intelligence by providing names of government officials to China. Her case must be taken very seriously,” she said.
Asked about Wu’s comments, Ma said she was hosting an online political news show for the YouTube channel The Grass Media (草傳媒), so she could enter the Legislative Yuan as a member of the press.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan
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