Three people connected with China-funded organizations, including Chou Ke-chi (周克琦) who heads the Gong He Party (共和黨), were indicted yesterday for contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法).
Along with Chou, who also heads the pro-China agitation group 333 Political Alliance (333政黨聯盟), Pan Jindong (潘進東) and Chu Chun-yuan (朱俊源), board members of the Taipei Puxian Association (莆仙同鄉會), were also indicted. Puxian is another name for Putian, a city in China’s Fujian Province.
The three are the first people Taipei prosecutors have charged for contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act since it was passed by the legislature in 2020 to counter the influence of foreign hostile forces seeking to meddle in Taiwan’s elections.
Photo: Tsung Chang-chin, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that an investigation found that Chou had received money from China to pay for him to organize activities against Taiwanese independence groups, denounce efforts to improve Taiwan-US relations and carry out targeted protests against the US National Endowment for Democracy during the World Movement for Democracy’s Global Assembly in Taipei in October last year.
Money from China also allegedly helped to fund the Gong He Party’s candidates for Taipei mayor and city councilor offices in the nine-in-one elections in November last year, prosecutors said.
Pan and Chu allegedly made frequent trips to China, including Putian, to channel money to Chou, prosecutors said.
Photo: Tsung Chang-chin, Taipei Times
The indictment said that Pan was born in China’s Fujian Province and immigrated to Taiwan in 2002 with family, later becoming a Taiwanese citizen.
In China, government officials allegedly invited Pan to serve as deputy director of the Putian Porcelain Arts Museum, which is funded and controlled by the city’s Taiwan Affairs Office, prosecutors said.
The office focuses on “united front” activities targeting Taiwanese businesspeople and students, and also allegedly provides money to conduct pro-China propaganda campaigns in Taiwan, they said.
Pan and Chu allegedly were charged with carrying out “united front” activities and fielding pro-China candidates for elected office, they said.
The pair allegedly provided Chou with NT$220,000 last year, which contravenes laws on registered political parties receiving funds from foreign sources, prosecutors said.
Chou allegedly used the money to make flags and print pamphlets for the Gong He Party, as well as to organize rallies to espouse Chinese political propaganda, they said.
He also allegedly used the money for campaigning for the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate, Tang hsin-min (唐新民), and those running for city councilor seats, they said.
Tang received 316 votes, or 0.02 percent, in the election, while the party’s councilor candidates received a combined 67 votes, data from the Central Election Commission showed.
Chou and Pan allegedly organized a protest outside the World Movement for Democracy’s Global Assembly last year, paying 65 people NT$200 to NT$250 to attend the demonstration, along with other expenses, prosecutors said.
Chou, Pan and Chu also allegedly collaborated to record and compile videos and briefs on their campaigns and protest activities, sending them to their Chinese handlers through WeChat, they said.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA