Educators and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday highlighted three incidents of Chinese political influence in Taoyuan, with the latest embroiling a police officer and a school principal.
The Union of Taiwanese Teachers and Taoyuan City Councilor Huang Chiung-hui (黃瓊慧) highlighted online posts stating: “I love you, China,” “We are Taiwan, China,” and “I am Chinese, I love my motherland,” by a police officer surnamed Yeh (葉) and a school principal on their respective social media accounts.
Huang said these came after revelations that Taoyuan high-school students on a camping trip wore Chinese People’s Liberation Army uniforms.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The Chinese Communist Party’s “united front” tactics have targeted Taiwanese entertainers, YouTube influencers, politicians and borough wardens, Huang said, adding that it has infiltrated the military, government agencies, police and schools in Taoyuan.
Taoyuan Mayor Simon Chang (張善政) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must launch a judicial investigation into these incidents, she said.
Huang said that Guei-Ji Elementary School principal Cheng Chia-hsin (鄭家興) has a Douyin account in the name “Super Beckham” complete with a photograph of the former England soccer captain and the slogan: “I love you, China.”
Cheng posted messages during February last year when soccer icon Lionel Messi chose not to play in an exhibition match in Hong Kong in a move seen as to insult Chinese officials.
“We demand motherland China ban Messi from ever coming to Chinese territory,” also tagged with #You must not insult Chinese fans and #Let’s boot Messi out of Chinese territory.
He also posted: “We are Taiwan, China... Congratulations to our baseball team for defeating Japan,” when Taiwan won the Premier12 tournament in November last year.
Yeh of Taoyuan’s Jhongli Police Precinct on his personal account wrote in simplified Chinese: “I am Chinese” and “Love my motherland,” and identified himself as a civil servant, posting photographs of himself in police uniform.
Taoyuan officials yesterday said that Yeh had been punished with one demerit.
Union of Taiwanese Teachers vice president Pan Wei-you (潘威佑) said these are three serious incidents that have led to concerns of pervasive infiltration by China.
“China’s ‘red communist’ forces have successfully infiltrated Taiwan’s education system and law enforcement agencies. If nothing is done, these will become tools to further spread China’s ‘united front’ campaign in our society. The government must make earnest efforts to fight against it, because this jeopardizes Taiwan’s national security,” North Taiwan Society vice chairman Lo Chun-hsuan (羅浚晅) said.
DPP Legislator Ariel Chang (張雅琳) said that Yeh, as a civil servant, might have contravened national security laws.
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