The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted Taiwan People’s Communist Party Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺), along with party members Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) and Yu Sheng-hung (余聲洪), over alleged contraventions of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and asked the court to consider heavy penalties.
Lin, who had been a Central Committee member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has traveled to China as a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople in China since 2007, investigators said.
After the KMT stripped him of his membership, Lin in 2016 made a failed bid for the legislative seat representing Tainan’s first electoral district, prosecutors said, adding that he founded the Taiwan People’s Communist Party in 2017 and has been its chairman since then.
Photo: Taipei Times
Lin forged close ties with Hu Chunguang (胡春光), an official of the Political Party Bureau of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, for over a decade, prosecutors said.
In a bid to elicit support from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his businesses in China, Lin hosted multiple visits by CCP officials and was directed by Hu to involve himself in Taiwan’s elections to advance China’s “united front” efforts, the indictment said.
Lin allegedly instructed Cheng to run for Taipei city councilor last year and later worked with Yu to illegally import Chinese-made COVID-19 rapid test kits in a bid to bolster his party’s election prospects, it said.
Lin also used Chinese national flags given to him by the Vexillological Research Center China at protests against a visit to Taipei in August last year by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of being made an agent to sell Chinese-made Maotai liquor, and becoming the go-to person to arrange tours by CCP personnel to Taiwan, the indictment said.
Lin was also charged with planning to give NT$500 and the Chinese rapid antigen test kits to protesters mobilized by his party at rallies against Pelosi.
Prosecutors said they sought severe penalties, as Lin and Chen had not cooperated with the probe.
The trio have denied the charges.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
RSS