Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions.
Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement in Beijing-directed election interference, fraud and forgery, as well as other financial crimes.
The evidence presented by prosecutors included chat logs from June 2019 to October last year between Xu and Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs Service Center for Cross-Strait Marriages and Families Director Yang Wentao (楊文濤), as well as Chinese Kuomintang Shanghai Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification Revolutionary Committee deputy head Sun Xian (孫憲).
Prosecutors said Xu explicitly declared her loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and provided long-term reports about the Taiwanese political landscape to Yang and Sun while participating in election activities under their instruction, as well as coordinating a plan to promote the participation of Chinese spouses in Taiwanese politics. She also allegedly reported on the daily activities of Chinese spouses in Taiwan, aiding the CCP in exerting control over them.
According to the indictment, Xu became disillusioned with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) because it did not nominate Chinese spouses for legislator-at-large positions. She even voiced her complaints to Yang, saying that the KMT “never really wanted unification, it’s only fooling Beijing.”
With instructions to turn a party towards the goals of the CCP, Xu looked to the TPP and began organizing Chinese spouses to campaign for former Taipei deputy mayor and incumbent TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) to run for Taipei mayor in 2022, as well as rallying support for Ko in his presidential campaign in an attempt to secure a legislator-at-large seat.
Prosecutors also alleged that Xu facilitated Sun’s 10-day visit to Taiwan in October last year, concealing his government connections through a shell company and falsifying a daily itinerary which allowed him to secretly meet with KMT and TPP officials.
Although Xu eventually gave up her legislator nomination in 2023 due to concerns over her suspected CPP-linked background, the indictment said that Xu had sent Sun the personal profile of Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀), another Chinese spouse and naturalized Taiwanese citizen. Li became a TPP legislator-at-large last month, but was embroiled in a scandal over her alleged failure to renounce her Chinese nationality. Xu and Sun’s chat log indicated that Li was handpicked by Xu and approved by Sun, who even provided a backup plan for if Li failed to secure the seat.
The indictment was sobering for many, as it detailed how the CCP’s espionage operations in Taiwan are not limited to the military, and can be coordinated by “local collaborators” in civic groups and political parties which then meddle in Taiwanese elections and legislation.
Mainland Affairs Council MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) on Thursday said the indictment revealed that the CCP’s intervention in Chinese spouse groups operates through a “highly organized chain of command,” which aims mainly to infiltrate the KMT and TPP.
While many people also blame the TPP for allegedly harboring CCP spies, Liang said any party can be a victim of Chinese infiltration, and the focus should be on how the TPP responds to the indictment.
When questioned by reporters in 2023, Ko claimed to have “never seen Xu,” but photos of the two together as early as 2019 were later revealed by the media, and the indictment listed in-person meetings between Ko and Xu before 2023.
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Wednesday criticized the indictment, saying that it resembled the authorship of the “Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) troll army.” On Thursday, Huang said that Xu was nominated by the party through an open audition, and Ko called the DPP the “real [Chinese] communist bandits.”
Although a verdict has not yet been reached on the case, the indictment serves as a warning for Taiwanese on potential methods of CCP infiltration — potentially the tip of the iceberg of a wider, more systematic “united front” network. The TPP should explain why it continued to work with Xu and why it now insists on backing Li’s legislative seat despite the unsettled controversy over her qualifications.
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