China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) funded the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association’s attempts to influence Taiwanese politics, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The office issued a wanted notice for the association’s late chairman Chou Ching-chun’s (周慶峻) wife, Lin Ming-mei (林明美), and its secretary-general Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) on charges of contravening the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法).
It said it would not posthumously indict Chou.
Photo: Liao Cheng-hui, Taipei Times
Prior to fleeing to China, Zhang was quoted as telling the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau that Chou had received funding from the TAO’s main office, as well as the TAO branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong and Hubei provinces, prosecutors said.
The TAO urged Taiwanese businesspeople who supported the association’s views to wire money to the association’s account at Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, Zhang was quoted as saying, adding that Chou’s wife was in charge of the account.
Zhang told the Investigation Bureau that she and Chou were the only core personnel of the association.
Chou had nominated Zhang to run for Taipei city councilor in 2018, but the campaign resulted in both being indicted for attempted bribery, receiving prison sentences of three years and six months, and three years and five months respectively.
Using information from the investigation into the election bribery, prosecutors charged Lin and Zhang with contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-infiltration Act.
Separately, prosecutors dismissed the charges against other members of the association, a director-general surnamed Hsiao (蕭), a deputy chairperson surnamed Lee (李) and an association member surnamed Cheng (鄭), citing a lack of evidence.
None of the three members, while a part of the association, had any part in being in charge of, controlling or developing an organization that originated in China, they said.
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