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 yesterday 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.
Prosecutors yesterday said they would decide whether to appeal after reviewing the court’s written explanation.
Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei Times
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.
Prosecutors said Lin and Cheng had been under alleged Chinese influence for more than a decade.
The two were suspected of promoting communism and were 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.
Both defendants denied all charges during questioning, prosecutors said, adding that they either deflected or minimized the allegations and displayed a poor attitude following their indictment.
Lin, formerly a central committee member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), had frequently traveled to China since 2006 as a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople, prosecutors said.
He also facilitated multiple cross-strait exchanges, they added.
Lin was expelled from the KMT in 2016 and later ran unsuccessfully for a legislative seat in Tainan’s first electoral district.
In 2017, Lin founded the TPCP, serving as its chairman to the present day.
Prosecutors said that in pursuit of Chinese investment for his business interests, Lin regularly met with government officials from the Political Party Bureau of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
He also invited TAO officials to Taiwan on several occasions and organized delegations to meet with them in China, they added.
Lin maintained a long-standing relationship — spanning more than a decade — with Hu Chunguang (胡春光), an official of the TAO’s Political Party Bureau, prosecutors said.
Hu and officials from the bureau’s Yunnan Province office encouraged Lin to run for Tainan City councilor in 2018, before Lin later instructed Cheng to run for Taipei City councilor in 2022, they added.
In an effort to boost the TPCP’s electoral performance, Lin allegedly 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, during which he planned to distribute NT$500 and the Chinese rapid antigen test kits to protesters mobilized by his party, prosecutors said.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
RSS