New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) yesterday rejected prosecutors’ conclusion that an online news platform and association in which he is involved are funded by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, accusing prosecutors of making groundless accusations.
Wang made the remarks at an evening news conference in Taipei, called hours after the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office alleged that Chinese national Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭), convicted last year of violating the National Security Act (國家安全法), had in 2015 used his relations with Wang and two other New Party members to develop a spy organization in service of China through the Fire News (燎原新聞網) Web site and the New China Youth Association.
Wang established Fire News in 2015 and serves as chairman of the association.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“I hereby guarantee that Fire News has never received any funding from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. It is just a crude Web site founded without any capital, nor is it registered as a company,” Wang said.
Wang said he and his friends founded the Web site, which publishes opinion pieces and simplified explanations of news events.
As for the association, Wang said it was established long before he became acquainted with Zhou, dismissing the possibility that it was used by Zhou to further his agenda.
Wang cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecutors’ conclusion, saying it was clearly only based on information they extracted from Zhou’s computer and that no concrete evidence was found.
New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) also raised the possibility that someone from the prosecutors’ office leaked information of the investigation to media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) while it was still ongoing, demanding that an investigation be launched into the matter.
“In her previous accusations, Chou used a specific phrase: ‘[Developing an organization that] listens to the party’s [CCP’s] orders and can be used during war.’ The same phase appeared in the prosecutors’ office’s news release,” Yok said.
Chou during a political talk show late last month said that Wang’s family received NT$5 million (US$168,759), presumably from China, and that Wang had established a paramilitary organization in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese government.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS