A deadly shooting in southern California has sent shock waves throughout Taiwan.
On Sunday, 40 members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church had gathered in Laguna Woods for a luncheon in honor of Pastor Billy Chang (張承宗), when David Wenwei Chou (周文偉), 68, allegedly entered the church and opened fire, killing one churchgoer and injuring five others.
As the church has long backed Taiwan’s independence from China, law enforcement officials suspect Chou targeted it out of anger over its stance.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said that Chou had notes in his car that said he “was upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan,” and harbored “hatred of the Taiwanese people.”
Internet users have accused Chou of involvement in the Las Vegas branch of the National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification (NACPU), while a media report said he attended the group’s founding in 2019 and was an outspoken supporter of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office issued a statement on Tuesday saying she condemned “any form of violence,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) expressed a similar stance in a Facebook post.
Asked about Chou’s actions, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said: “We hope the US government will take effective measures to resolve the worsening gun violence issue at home.”
The incident has highlighted China’s grand unification propaganda, social divisions between pro-China and pro-Taiwan supporters, and the hazards of “red infiltration” and organizations backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Over the past few years, as China has ratcheted up its aggression toward Taiwan, tensions between pro-China and pro-Taiwan supporters have mounted. Tensions might have peaked when the KMT’s Beijing-friendly Han ran for president in 2020.
As Han lost by a wide margin and his recall in Kaohsiung sent the KMT into a tailspin of consecutive election losses, frustration might have morphed into hatred among unification supporters such as Chou, who might have seen violent “revolution” as the only path toward change.
On a deeper level, Chou’s alleged hate crime was born out of Chinese nationalism. China hates and envies Western countries, making it want to defeat the West. It considers Taiwan’s “modern” values — freedom, democracy and human rights — as symbols of the West. It views Taiwan as an entryway for “Western imperialism” and opposition to China.
This is twisted logic more akin to fascism during World War II. To facilitate unification and bring about the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese race,” it is necessary to annihilate the “dissidents,” and “liberate” Taiwan through force and violence.
While the victims of the church shooting are Taiwanese, they are also 100 percent American. Previously, Americans might have thought that Chinese propaganda only affected freedom of speech — for example, companies should not criticize the Chinese government if they want access to the Chinese market. Americans now realize that Chinese ideology can erode their democracy and threaten their lives.
Taiwan and the US should use this opportunity to step up the investigation of CCP-backed unification organizations, hate speech and red infiltration. As a conduit for Chinese propaganda and even espionage, front organizations such as the NACPU have been set up around the world to advance the CCP’s political agenda and malignant influence.
If the government does not implement harsher punishments for espionage and continues to turn a blind eye toward unification organizations and hate speech, some other shooter could emerge and instigate another tragic incident.
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday announced that she would dissolve parliament on Friday. Although the snap election on Feb. 8 might appear to be a domestic affair, it would have real implications for Taiwan and regional security. Whether the Takaichi-led coalition can advance a stronger security policy lies in not just gaining enough seats in parliament to pass legislation, but also in a public mandate to push forward reforms to upgrade the Japanese military. As one of Taiwan’s closest neighbors, a boost in Japan’s defense capabilities would serve as a strong deterrent to China in acting unilaterally in the
Taiwan last week finally reached a trade agreement with the US, reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing levies, from the 20 percent rate announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration in August last year. Taiwan also became the first country to secure most-favored-nation treatment for semiconductor and related suppliers under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. In return, Taiwanese chipmakers, electronics manufacturing service providers and other technology companies would invest US$250 billion in the US, while the government would provide credit guarantees of up to US$250 billion to support Taiwanese firms
RSS