The Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) is to take effect today, the Presidential Office said yesterday on its Web site.
The 12-article law, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 31, prohibits people acting on the instructions of or with the funding of “infiltration sources” from illegal campaigning or lobbying, or receiving illegal political donations, as well as disrupting social order, peaceful assemblies, elections or referendums.
While the activities are already defined as illegal in the Criminal Code, the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the Anti-infiltration Act stipulates the punishments are applicable to people who break those laws on the instructions or with the financial support of infiltration sources, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Anti-infiltration Act applies only to people “who intentionally break the law, and not to those who are unaware of the situation,” the council added.
It stipulates that people who are influenced by infiltration sources and conduct illegal lobbying would be fined between NT$500,000 and NT$5 million (US$16,699 and US$166,990).
If the lobbying concerns national security issues, such as national defense, diplomacy and cross-strait affairs, the punishment would be a maximum of three years in prison or a fine of up to NT$5 million.
The Anti-infiltration Act states that for people who are influenced by infiltration sources and contravene articles 149 to 153 of the Criminal Code by disrupting social order, or Article 31 of the Assembly and Parade Act by disrupting peaceful assemblies and parades, the sentence would be increased by half of what is stipulated in the Criminal Code and the Assembly and Parade Act.
People who are influenced by infiltration sources to participate in illegal campaign activities, thus contravening the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act or the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, would be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison, or fined up to NT$10 million.
The Anti-infiltration Act states that people under the influence of infiltration sources who disrupt elections, recalls or referendums and contravene either of the two election and recall acts, would face a sentence increased by half of what is stipulated in the two acts.
A life sentence or a minimum of 15 years in prison would be given to those under the influence of infiltration sources who disrupt public gatherings such as an election or petition rally.
The Anti-infiltration Act aims to fend off infiltration, rather than curb all cross-border exchanges, the council said, adding that it would not restrict regular exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS