The Taiwan Statebuilding Party, alongside Kuma Academy chief executive officer Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) and international law expert Sung Cheng-en (宋承恩), yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to begin reviewing a proposed foreign influence transparency law to prevent Chinese infiltration.
Taiwanese should not tolerate the legislature’s indolence, party Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said.
The ruling and opposition parties are passive regarding efforts to mitigate the influence of Chinese “united front” rhetoric, said Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱), director of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Taipei chapter.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Chinese infiltration must be funded, and the legal instrument to reveal such sources is still “frozen” in legislative processes, Wang said.
Wang accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party legislators of blocking the act, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party, which has a legislative majority, is turning a blind eye because it has to rely on the support of Taiwanese businesspeople in China.
If Taiwan does not have defenses against infiltration, China would have virtually no opposition in “buying out” Taiwan, Wang said.
The US, Australia and the UK have regulations and laws that mandate the registration of foreign agents with their respective governments, while Canada is also mulling similar legislation, Wu said.
Taiwan is lagging in similar legislative efforts, and amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Criminal Code, the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) have been insufficient, Wu said.
The average prison sentence for Chinese spies is 18 months, with most allowed to post bail or have their sentence delayed, Wu said, adding that such leniency encourages others to spy for China.
Ho said that establishing legislation to register foreign agents would be a warning system for democracies.
If one does not uphold the democratic system, it is difficult to safeguard even greater values, such as justice and fairness, Ho added.
Not Only Taiwan is subject to Chinese infiltration, Sung said, adding that the international community is jointly facing the issue of China using its influence and wealth to foment strife and discord in free and open societies.
The draft act only covers the essential facets, and Chinese infiltration and “united front” rhetoric are far more sophisticated, Sung said, adding that the draft is sufficient to cover many deficiencies in the national security act.
If passed, Sung said that the bill would not automatically consider all Taiwanese businesspeople agents of China, as they would only become suspects if they receive money and have a systematic way of reporting to Chinese agents.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS