An anti-infiltration bill proposed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers has met with strong opposition from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
During a public hearing the KMT caucus held on Dec. 10, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) criticized the bill, calling it a bad, anti-constitutional law.
Although Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, opposes the bill less fervently than Ma, his visit to China’s liaison office in Hong Kong shows why he evades issues related to Chinese infiltration.
At a news conference on Dec. 11, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) spoke of the bill as part of the DPP administration’s “continuous political manipulation by revising laws to incite hostility, and restrict and suppress normal exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.”
It is clear that the KMT is unabashedly chiming in with China in opposing anti-infiltration efforts.
The bill is a magic mirror that reveals the true colors of Taiwanese politicians. One after another, people who have received benefits from China, or are close to Chinese money and power, are opposing it.
The most conspicuous instance is retired army lieutenant general and former KMT Central Standing Committee member Lo Wen-shan (羅文山), who was sentenced to 30 months in prison by the Taipei District Court on Dec. 3 for accepting illegal political donations from then-Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member Xu Zhiming (許智明). The CPPCC’s illegal donations were used to campaign for pro-China candidates in elections and buy gifts for pro-China individuals.
According to the district court’s verdict, Lo admitted that Xu said the money was to be used to run newspaper campaign ads for Ma, who was seeking re-election as the KMT’s presidential candidate, in the name of the Chinese Huangpu Four Seas Alliance Association (中華黃埔四海同心會), and to pay for accommodation, meals, gifts and other expenses when a delegation led by Xu met with Ma at the Presidential Office, visited former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) and threw banquets.
With Ma opposing the bill so strongly, one cannot help but wonder if he has received gifts from the CPPCC. Other questions are why the CPPCC spent so much money campaigning for him, and why Ma insists on agreeing with China when the US, Australia and other nations are working hard to prevent Chinese infiltration.
The court ruling made it clear that Lo had received illegal political donations from Xu to buy gifts for Lien and Ma. Are they so strongly against the proposed foreign influence transparency and infiltration bills because they have enjoyed benefits from the Chinese Communist Party for so long?
The anti-infiltration bill is not reinventing the wheel as Ma claimed, as the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) is not enough to investigate infiltration.
For example, in Lo’s case, if the Huangpu association he chaired had not been registered as a political association, it would have been almost impossible to uncover that they had accepted Chinese funds to campaign for pro-China candidates, and it would be even harder for a court to recognize the funds as political donations.
How many Taiwanese groups, individuals and companies receive Chinese funds to infiltrate Taiwanese politics and media outlets? The Political Donations Act and other laws are not enough to bring them to justice.
There clearly is an urgent need for the anti-infiltration bill as an important mechanism for defending our democracy.
Huang Di-ying is a lawyer and the vice chairman of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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