An investigation into New Party Youth Corps members was launched because Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) is suspected of attempting to create a paramilitary organization to destabilize Taiwan with financial backing from China, political and national security experts said yesterday.
Media personality and political pundit Clara Chou (周玉蔻) made the allegation during a talk show on Thursday, saying she had information that one of Wang’s family members recently received NT$5 million (US$166,845) in a bank account and she believes that the money came from China.
The New Party, through Wang and his colleagues’ efforts, “has established a paramilitary organization in Taiwan, which was set up on behalf of the Chinese government. The members would be receiving military training. Its purpose is to spring into action in the event of a conflict between Taiwan and China,” Chou said.
“All the information points to Wang and his New Party colleagues having contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法). They are being investigated because reports indicated they were developing networks and organizations in Taiwan under the guidance of the Chinese Communist Party,” she said.
National security expert and retired army colonel Tseng Miao-hung (曾淼泓) concurred with Chou’s information, saying that top-level intelligence reports indicate that China has been active in establishing paramilitary organizations and political warfare units, and offering financial backing to unification parties in Taiwan.
“The judiciary and law enforcement agencies must work together to uncover the extent of the recruitment and penetration into Taiwanese government and military agencies, and uproot them. The New Party’s paramilitary organization is only one of China’s proxies that forms part of their ‘united front’ works against Taiwan,” said Tseng, who specializes in military intelligence and warfare information, and formerly headed National Defense University’s computer center.
“China’s proxy groups in Taiwan receive regular funding through indirect channels and some have been trained by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army [PLA] to conduct unification political campaigns and espionage, recruit government and military officials, and entice them to pass on classified information,” he said.
“China’s paramilitary organizations, or ‘fifth column troops,’ are concealed as ‘sleeper cells’ conducting underground activities most of the time, but when military conflict arises, such as China trying to invade Taiwan, then these organizations and personnel are expected to spring into action in coordination with the PLA,” Tseng said. “Their mission is to carry out advanced strikes, such as destroying or disabling Taiwan’s telecommunication lines, power plants, main transportation routes and bridges, as well as other vital infrastructure.”
DPP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) talked about the case on the talk show with Chou, saying prosecutors must have had sufficient evidence against New Party members to be able to carry out Tuesday’s arrests.
The behind-the-scenes work has been going on for more than one year and the investigation was focused on national security breaches, he said.
“From what I have gathered, they contravened Article 2-1 of the National Security Act, which prohibits the collection and delivery of confidential documents, images or information, or developing an organization for China or for another foreign country,” he said.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Wang Ping-chung downplayed Chou’s allegations.
“I do not know what her source of information is. Prosecutors did not present any information about this,” Wang said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), when asked if he knew about Chou’s allegations, said: “No, I have no information and cannot comment on any individual case.”
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS