A woman on Thursday was sentenced to four years in prison for organizing trips to China for Taiwanese in 2023, with the expenses partially paid by Chinese authorities, in an attempt to solicit votes ahead of last year’s presidential election.
The Chiayi District Court handed down the sentence, along with deprivation of civil rights for three years, to Lin Hsueh-feng (林雪峰) for using improper benefits to influence voters and contravening laws aimed at countering Chinese infiltration.
The ruling can be appealed.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
In the run-up to the presidential election in January last year, Lin organized several group tours to Zhejiang Province for local officials from Chiayi at the invitation of the Taizhou branch of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), prosecutors said.
Each participant was charged NT$16,000 for flight tickets, transportation, and meals for the six-day trip in August, October and November in 2023, while expenses for board, lodging and local travel were paid by Taizhou’s TAO, prosecutors said.
Chinese officials promoted the idea to the participants that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family” and encouraged them to “vote for a specific political party’s candidate” in the presidential election, prosecutors said.
Lin herself also hinted to the participants that they should vote for a specific candidate in return for the trip, they said.
Lin denied that the trips were related to the presidential election and said the activities were normal exchanges between Taiwan and China, the court said.
The court said that the paid expenses were excessive and the trips were intended to influence voting.
Lin, now 54, ran unsuccessfully for Chiayi City councilor twice in 2018 and 2022 for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The court said its ruling was based on provisions of 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), which prohibit providing improper benefits to eligible voters under the direction and funding of infiltration sources.
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