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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique