Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday denied allegations that China had supported his campaigns for office, calling it a “cheap and clumsy” smear campaign and a diversion from the administration’s failings.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun on Saturday reported that a recording, which surfaced online in October, suggested that the Chinese Communist Party had interfered in Taiwan’s elections and played a role in Han’s 2018 election as Kaohsiung mayor.
National security officials believe the recording captures a conversation between officials from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force and the head of a Beijing-based intelligence analysis firm, made ahead of the 2018 local elections, the report said.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
In the alleged recording, a senior PLA official reportedly said: “Even if [Han Kuo-yu] does not win, he would eventually be elected.”
The discussion reportedly included mention of 20 million yuan (US$2.85 million) budget to help Kuo’s campaign.
“This attempt to smear, defame and vilify me is both cheap and clumsy. It is a convenient way to distract from [the Executive Yuan’s] poor governance,” Han wrote on Facebook in response to the report. “If the Chinese Communist Party were truly involved in the election, following the vivid script of events, how come today’s ‘person in power’ is the current leader?”
Taiwan’s democracy is determined by voters, and the idea that 20 million yuan could sway them underestimates the Taiwanese electorate and insults the nation’s democratic system, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said yesterday that Taiwan could use artificial intelligence to counter disinformation and safeguard elections.
“There is no need to exaggerate or embellish the situation. Taiwan has many capable companies able to carry out the functions described, without resorting to theatrics or manipulation,” she said.
Cheng also criticized the use of “unverifiable recordings to manipulate public opinion,” calling the tactics “malicious and crude.”
She expressed strong confidence in Taiwanese voters and the democratic process, but criticized the Democratic Progressive Party for a tendency to “embellish and escalate claims.”
Current cross-strait tensions could be eased through dialogue and by demonstrating that both sides value peace, Cheng added.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS