Authorities have detained a man on suspicion of “fabricating” opinion polls with the intention of influencing the Jan. 13 presidential election, prosecutors said yesterday.
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said it questioned four people on Friday for allegedly spreading fabricated presidential poll results through news media and social media.
Prosecutors said they detained former For Public Good Party deputy chairman Hsu Shao-tung (徐少東) on suspicion of contravening the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) based on evidence from bank transactions.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Hsu’s son was released without needing to post bail. Hsu’s alleged co-conspirators, the head of the Kaohsiung Pastel Painting Association, surnamed Wang (王), and the director-general of the Railway Matsu Charity Association, surnamed Lee (李), paid bail of NT$200,000 and NT$100,000 respectively.
Their Chinese contact allegedly wired funds into accounts under Hsu’s and Wang’s names, prosecutors said, adding that Wang was the primary contact.
Investigators found that, under the Chinese agent’s orders, Hsu falsified research results and polls on presidential candidates and forwarded the false information to contacts on Line, they said.
Wang also took out advertisements in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News and the United Daily News, as well as on news Web sites, including Match Portal, Pchome News, Owl News and Life News, to help promote certain candidates, prosecutors said.
The candidates and parties that the fabricated opinion polls favored were not identified.
Prosecutors said that Hsu was also a chief consultant of a “new residents” association, a community organization for newcomers to Taiwan.
The association was accused by prosecutors earlier this month of arranging free trips to China for dozens of people in a bid to “influence” the elections.
“They aimed to use Taiwan’s large new resident population to develop organizations that could be controlled by these hostile foreign powers ... to influence the election, thereby endangering national security,” prosecutors said.
Hsu’s detention was the second case this week involving someone being held incommunicado on suspicion of faking presidential election polls.
On Friday, a court ordered that a reporter be detained in Taichung on suspicion of publishing online eight fake public opinion polls on the presidential election at the instruction of Chinese officials.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said that reporter Lin Hsien-yuan (林獻元), who works for Finger Media, in October asked a self-proclaimed polling expert, Su Yuan-hwa (蘇雲華), to produce a series of false poll results at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party’s Fujian Provincial Committee showing that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential ticket was favored by Taiwanese.
The results, which were shared on other online media platforms, misled the public and were part of China’s attempt to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential election, prosecutors said.
Additional reporting by CNA
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
RSS