The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would attempt to influence next year’s elections via six moves and urged opposition parties not to dance to the CCP’s tune.
The DPP caucus also warned the public not to take information at face value and fall for the CCP’s attempts to divide Taiwan from within.
DPP caucus director Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that China would attempt to influence the elections via military maneuvers, weaponizing the economy, mobilizing pro-unification sympathizers and exhorting Chinese-funded groups to offer money in exchange for classified military information.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Pro-China individuals could act for China by offering to buy plane tickets for pro-unification Taiwanese to return home and vote in China’s favor, Liu added.
She said it was “pathetic to hear” the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was still speaking in favor of Lin Huai (林懷), chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises’ Changsha City Branch, whose guilty verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court last week.
He was accused of receiving funds from the CCP and using them to encourage others to cast their presidential ballot in the 2020 election for then-KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and their party ballot for the KMT.
DPP caucus secretary-general Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that much of China’s actions toward Taiwan are “normalized measures” that would continue as long as Taiwan refuses to bow to China’s will, regardless of which political party wins the election.
Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) comments at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday that “Taiwan is China’s Taiwan” and referring to Vice President William Lai (賴清德) — the DPP’s presidential candidate — as a “gray rhino charging at us” were absurd and an attempt to influence the elections, Chuang said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
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