Just when we thought politics in Taiwan couldn’t possibly get more surreal, word came from China that Chang An-le (張安樂) is thinking of returning to “make some contributions to improving cross-strait relations” and push for unification with China.
Chang has been a wanted fugitive since he fled to China in 1996 to avoid a probe into triad activities. Of course, he had only been back in Taiwan for about a year, after being deported from the US in 1995 following almost a decade in federal prisons on charges of drug trafficking, kidnapping and attempted extortion.
He is sometimes described as a former leader of the Bamboo Union (竹聯幫), but the use of the word “former” would seem spurious in his case, given rumors of his continued connections with underworld members during his years as a “businessman” in China.
Chang first gained prominence as part of the Bamboo Union group involved in the 1984 assassination in California of Taiwanese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) on behalf of Admiral Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau and other members of the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
However, despite his years in exile and his status as a fugitive, Chang is not exactly a newcomer to Taiwanese politics, having established the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) in September 2005. He has already shown what we can expect from his party and his interest in cross-strait politics. He has claimed credit for organizing protests against the Dalai Lama’s September 2009 visit to Kaohsiung to comfort Typhoon Morakot victims, when CUPP stalwarts denounced the Tibetan leader’s “splittist” activities. They also showed up in Dasi (大溪) in April last year during talks on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) to voice their support for the pact.
Chang also sent black-shirted CUPP members — or Bamboo Union thugs, it’s hard to tell the difference — to provide security for disgraced Government Information Office staffer Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) upon his return to Taipei in March 2009 after penning a series of online articles deriding Taiwan and Taiwanese. It was simply a case of one Mainlander helping another out, since Chang said at the time he had known Kuo for years and had just sent some people to ensure Kuo’s safety.
On Tuesday, the Chinese-language United Daily News quoted Chang as saying Taiwanese need to understand the only way to maintain the “status quo” was to complete negotiations with Beijing along the lines of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model. He also said he would try to form a “third political force” to cultivate politicians who sympathize with the Chinese Communist Party to run for office.
That’s just what Taiwan needs, men in black — not the alien-chasing Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith kind, but the Oswald Mosley fascist thugs kind — seeking election at the local or national level.
Of course, the Bamboo Union is no stranger to politics. During the Martial Law era, the Bamboo Union played a key role for the KMT administration, harassing and spying on the tangwai (黨外, outside the party) movement and its leaders. In the years since then, the Bamboo Union has only grown more powerful, according to Foreign Policy magazine in May 2008, which listed it as one of the four most dangerous gangs in the world.
Despite the 2009 cross-strait crime-fighting cooperation agreement, Chang has remained a free man in China, readily available for media interviews and in close contact with his friends here. One can only assume Beijing backs his activities.
If Chang wants to return, it is to be hoped that it comes via extradition and in handcuffs, and that he will be welcomed back not by his black-shirted comrades, but by police officers. If he wants to get involved in politics, he first must resolve the charges against him.
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