Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) was yesterday sentenced for campaigning for political candidates at the behest of Chinese agents, making her the ninth person, including elected officials and candidates, to be sentenced to prison for collaborating with Beijing since the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) was promulgated in 2020.
The legislation, aimed at preventing hostile foreign powers from interfering with elections, was passed in 2019 and enacted the following year.
Xu yesterday became the most recent public figure to be sentenced under the act after the New Taipei District Court handed her seven years in prison for campaigning on behalf of Chinese agents, among other offenses.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The Supreme Court last month upheld a guilty verdict against Lin Hsueh-feng (林雪峰), a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chiayi City councilor candidate, who is serving a four-year sentence.
Lin was charged over taking borough wardens and potential voters on Beijing-funded trips to China starting in 2023.
Chinese officials hosted those on the trips at banquets and gave speeches on who to vote for in the general election the following year, court documents showed.
Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇), a former independent legislative candidate who in 2023 passed classified information to China in exchange for campaign contributions, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Ma was found guilty of leaking lists of names of Criminal Investigation Bureau and National Security Bureau officials, and other central government personnel, as well as political intelligence.
Gong He Party Chairman Chou Ke-chi (周克琦), and Taipei Puxian Association board members Chu Chun-yuan (朱俊源) and Pan Jindong (潘進東) rallied for the party’s Taipei mayoral and city councilor candidates in the 2022 election after receiving funds from the provincial government of China’s Fujian.
The High Court this year upheld the guilty verdicts for the three, who were sentenced to terms of one to two years.
Borough wardens were also accused of taking people on trips funded by Chinese officials.
Court records showed that most of the Chinese Communist Party officials explicitly told the visitors to support the KMT or the Taiwan People’s Party.
Yao Wei-hua (姚韋華), a borough warden in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), and Chien An-shih (簡安仕), chairman of a China cultural exchange group, were originally found not guilty of arranging Beijing-funded trips to China in 2023 for five other borough wardens and nine friends.
The High Court earlier this year reversed the verdict.
Yao faces four years and eight months in prison, while Chien faces two years and six months, although the verdicts are not final.
The New Taipei District Court last year sentenced Hsu Cheng-kai (許政鎧), a KMT borough warden in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和), to one year and six months for organizing a trip to China with 12 wardens in 2023 to influence the general elections the following year. The verdict is not final.
Typhoon Dolphin is expected to enter the East China Sea on Saturday and intensify rainfall in western regions over the weekend as the typhoon’s outer circulation sweeps across the sea north of Taiwan, independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said today. The eastern coast should prepare for extreme heat caused by downslope winds over the weekend, while southwesterly winds from Monday would bring localized heavy rain to the southwest, he said. As Typhoon Dolphin’s outer bands move past northern Taiwan over the next couple of days, northern, central and southern areas would experience showers tomorrow, he said. Rainfall over the weekend would lead to
STORM SEASON: A typhoon and two tropical storms currently forming are certainly making life exciting for those living the western Pacific, the CWA said One typhoon and two tropical storms are in the west Pacific, and a sea warning for Typhoon Dolphin could be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon as the storm closes on Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the center of the typhoon was about 1,680km east of Taipei and moving west at 20kph, the CWA said. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kujia formed west of Luzon at 2am yesterday and is forecast to move east of the island before weakening and being absorbed by Typhoon Dolphin, the agency said. Steered by the Pacific high-pressure system, Dolphin is forecast to
READY TO AID: The CGA has offered assistance to Chinese vessels in distress, and governments should help ships in emergencies no matter their nationality, the OAC said Taiwan yesterday condemned reported actions by the China Coast Guard against a Japanese patrol vessel attempting to shelter from Typhoon Dolphin, saying that emergency refuge should not be used to challenge Taiwan’s sovereignty or jurisdiction. Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Deputy Minister Sung Chen-en (宋承恩) made the remarks after reports that China Coast Guard vessel No. 2304 on Friday night tailed the Japan Coast Guard’s Urado (PL-86) as it sailed from waters off Taichung toward Penghu County to evade the typhoon. Penghu fishers said they also spotted China Coast Guard vessels numbered 2504, 2102, 2301 and 1401 around the Strait’s median
Two Chinese suspected to have illegally entered Taiwan are being held incommunicado, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, after a rubber boat was found north of the Port of Taipei last month. An angler late last month discovered a rubber boat on a beach in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), a member of the public wrote on Threads on Monday. The next day, the angler investigated the boat and discovered that it contained Chinese-made metal oil drums, toilet paper packaging with simplified Chinese characters, an empty soda bottle sold in China and three life jackets, the post said. The fisher reported
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