Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, and his campaign team yesterday questioned self-confessed former Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang’s (王立強) allegations about Chinese infiltration and urged President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to release reliable information regarding the case.
Australian media on Saturday reported Wang’s account of how he was recruited by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The media reports quoted Wang as saying that China had paid news networks CtiTV (中天), China Television (CTV, 中視) and Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC, 東森電視) to broadcast news designed to negatively affect the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ahead of the Jan. 11 elections.
Photo: CNA
Commenting on an investigation by the National Communications Commission’s (NCC) into the news channels, Han wrote on Facebook: “Does the NCC work for the public or work for the DPP?”
“Are you the NCC, or the zangxixi (髒兮兮),” he wrote, using Chinese characters meaning “unclean” that sound like “NCC.”
Two hashtags he added to the post read “Clearly explain what information you have” and “green terror,” an apparent play on “White Terror.”
Describing the case as an incident of “a mistaken spy,” Han campaign office deputy executive Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) wrote on Facebook: “Please tell me exactly what you have,” referring to the Presidential Office on Saturday saying that it has information on the situation.
Is Wang a fugitive attempting to escape fraud charges, or is he collaborating with multiple state governments to “intervene in Taiwan’s elections?” Sun asked.
The NCC later said that it had spoken with management personnel at EBC, CtiTV and CTV.
They have denied the allegations, it said.
The commission said it has launched an administrative investigation into the three media firms.
Earlier yesterday, the KMT at a news conference urged the Tsai administration to thoroughly investigate Wang’s allegations and offer a clear explanation to the public.
“Based on my professional judgement, I can say with certainty that this [Wang’s allegations] are falsified in an attempt to seek political asylum,” said former Military Intelligence Bureau deputy chief Wong Yen-ching (翁衍慶), who has worked in intelligence for 35 years.
Wang’s claim that he worked in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and that he reported to two supervisors at the same time contradict basic principles of espionage, Wong said.
Spies are assigned tasks in one location at a time and will not report to multiple supervisors simultaneously, he said.
Moreover, Wang referred to China’s intelligence bureau by a former name, appearing to have no knowledge that it has been renamed, he said.
If Wang had valuable information to provide, the Australian government would protect the information by attempting to prevent him from giving interviews, Wong said.
As Canberra apparently does not trust him, Wang must have spoken to the media in an attempt to avoid being deported back to China, he said.
Separately, People First Party (PFP) Chairman and presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) said that the Tsai administration has a responsibility to explain whether Chinese spies have infiltrated the nation and are attempting to influence the elections.
“She is responsible for national security issues. Surely, our national security officials should know if such a person entered the nation,” Soong said. “Surely the Financial Supervisory Commission should investigate whether there are indeed Chinese funds being used to interfere in our elections and National Immigration Agency records should document when they arrived.”
“The ruling party and its legislative caucus should not pull the trigger because they saw a shadow,” he said.
Referring to a DPP caucus anti-infiltration bill that it unveiled yesterday, he said: “They should show that they form a responsible government and leave people to make up their minds on the kind of government they want.”
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
RSS