There are 157 people under investigation for alleged election interference in 77 cases, up from 27 suspects in 17 cases two weeks ago, mostly for facilitating propaganda trips to China, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday.
Prosecutors have intensified efforts to investigate contraventions of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Mou-hsin (黃謀信) said after briefing the Cabinet on the matter.
Outside interference mainly came from Chinese sources, as many of the cases under investigation involve junket trips to China in which local elected officials allegedly led people on mostly paid-for tours of Chinese cities, Huang said.
Photo from Lin Meng-li’s Facebook
The trips are one of five main ways the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is meddling in the election, Department of Prosecutorial Affairs Director-General Kuo Yung-fa (郭永發) said.
The other four methods are Taiwanese influencers colluding with CCP officials to spread Chinese propaganda; disseminating disinformation through news firms and social media; polling and public relations companies manipulating survey results; and using artificial intelligence to generate falsified materials to smear certain candidates, Kuo said.
Investigators have reported an escalating trend of these activities in recent weeks and expect more meddling heading into the final two weeks of the election campaign, he said, adding that more indictments are expected nearer to election day on Jan.13.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) also said that outside forces are helping to fund underground gambling rings to entice people to bet on voting outcomes.
“This can influence public opinion and sway voters, thereby changing election outcomes,” Chen said.
Judicial authorities are also bolstering efforts to track money and human networks, and monitor digital information, the ministry said.
“Actions are being taken to cut off suspicious money transfers from foreign sources and respond faster to disinformation, requiring Web site proprietors to remove them,” Kuo said. “We have also enhanced surveillance of people and groups allegedly colluding with outside sources in attempts to undermine our democratic election system.”
He also said people should think carefully when someone offers a free banquet meal or tour, as they could be methods of vote-buying.
People could be prosecuted for accepting these invitations, Kuo said, adding that the ministry also offers rewards of up to NT$20 million (US$651,084) for tips on outside election interference.
Meanwhile, the Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office late on Wednesday questioned a Nantou County Government secretary for allegedly helping China bribe potential voters with travel perks.
Nantou County Confidential Secretary Lin Meng-li (林孟麗) was accused of breaching the Anti-Infiltration Act and election laws before being released on NT$200,000 bail, the office said.
Lin allegedly invited more than 10 people on a trip from Monday to Saturday last week to Hangzhou in China, which was mostly funded by Zhejiang Province’s Taiwan Affairs Office, it said.
Investigators found evidence suggesting she had acted on the orders of Chinese officials to use the tour as a means to buy votes, the office said, adding that it has questioned the accused and eight other members of the group.
Chinese officials were believed to have paid for the groups’ travel, dining, lodging and admittance fees to local attractions, and interacted with its members during meals, the office said.
Separately, the Central Election Commission (CEC) in a release yesterday said that judicial authorities have launched an investigation into a case of fake election polling and warned people not to spread such information through social media, as it could result in legal punishment.
The CEC said it had received complaints of suspect poll figures with the survey not saying which firm conducted the poll, what its financial sources are, the number of people surveyed, the number of valid responses, the margin of error and other pertinent information.
People found contravening election laws on releasing unauthorized polls could be fined NT$100,000 to NT$1 million, while the fine is higher for political parties, candidates and people working for them, the CEC said.
Additional reporting by Liu Pin-chuan and Lee Wen-hsin
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
‘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 hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
RSS