Taiwan People’s Communist Party (TPCP) Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺) and Vice Chairman Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) were found not guilty today on charges of Chinese infiltration and attempting to influence elections.
The Taipei District Court has not yet revealed the reasoning behind the verdict, which may be appealed.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Oct. 3, 2023, indicted Lin, Cheng and fellow party member Yu Sheng-hung (余聲洪) for allegedly receiving funding from China and illegally importing Chinese-made COVID-19 rapid test kits to bolster the party’s election prospects in 2022.
Photo: Taipei Times
Lin and Cheng had been under alleged Chinese influence for more than a decade, prosecutors said.
They were suspected of promoting communism and indicted for contravening the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), with prosecutors recommending a heavy sentence.
Prosecutors said they would decide whether to appeal once the court’s reasoning is known.
Lin and Cheng denied all charges after being summoned, deflected or minimized the allegations and had poor attitude following their indictment, prosecutors said.
Lin was formerly a central committee member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and, since 2006, often traveled to China as a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, prosecutors said.
He has also facilitated multiple cross-strait exchanges, they added.
Lin was stripped of his KMT membership in 2016, following which he unsuccessfully ran for the legislative seat representing Tainan’s first electoral district.
In 2017, Lin founded the TPCP, for which he has served as chairman until now.
In a bid for Chinese investment in his businesses, Lin regularly met with government officials of the Political Party Bureau of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), prosecutors said.
He also invited officials from the TAO to Taiwan on multiple occasions and sent groups to meet with them in China, they added.
Lin has further maintained a close connection with Hu Chunguang (胡春光), an official of the TAO’s Political Party Bureau, for more than a decade, they said.
Hu and members of his bureau from Yunnan Province encouraged Lin to run for Tainan City councilor in 2018, before Lin allegedly instructed Cheng to run for Taipei City Councilor in 2022, they added.
In a bid to boost the TPCP’s electoral votes, Lin received NT$30,000, US$10,000 and 4,700 COVID-19 rapid test kits from the TAO, prosecutors said.
Lin also staged more than 20 protests against a visit to Taipei by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022, at which he planned to give NT$500 and the Chinese rapid antigen test kits to protesters mobilized by his party, prosecutors said.
Moreover, in 2022, Lin became chief advisor of the Taiwan center of Shandong Zhengbao Media Co to engage in “united front” propaganda efforts under the pretext of cross-strait exchanges, prosecutors said.
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