Taiwan court jails Chinese woman over political infiltration

TAIPEI - A court in Taiwan sentenced a Chinese woman to seven years in jail on Aug 11 after she was found guilty of taking instructions from Chinese Communist Party officials to campaign for candidates in Taiwanese elections.

China claims democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to seize it by force, while Taipei accuses Beijing of using espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.

Xu Chunying, who came to Taiwan in 1998 and worked in the island’s migrant community, was found guilty of offences under the Anti-Infiltration Act, Taiwan New Taipei District Court documents show.

Xu was also convicted of crimes relating to fraud, currency exchange, and helping a Chinese person enter Taiwan without disclosing the true nature of his work and the purpose of the trip.

The court said Xu and another person identified only by their surname, Chung, took orders from Chinese Communist Party officials to campaign for two Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidates in the 2022 Taipei mayoral election and the 2024 presidential election.

The TPP candidates – Huang Shan-shan in the mayoral race and Ko Wen-je in the presidential contest – both lost their elections. They have not been accused of wrongdoing in the case.

The TPP, one of the two opposition parties in Taiwan’s Parliament, had considered adding Xu to a list of legislator candidates in the 2024 elections.

‘Chinese spouses’

Xu, an influential member of a community of Chinese women married to Taiwanese men, known as “Chinese spouses”, reportedly turned down the candidacy chance following controversy over her nationality and questions over whether she could serve in Parliament.

TPP spokeswoman Chang Tung said on Aug 11 that the party’s contact with Xu was limited to immigrant affairs.

TPP’s “policies take into consideration only the interests of all the people of Taiwan, regardless of when they arrived, and are not influenced by any external forces”, Chang said, adding that Xu “never participated in the party’s decision-making”.

Xu was reportedly granted Taiwanese citizenship in 2000. While Chinese people can give up their household registration in China, there is no mechanism to renounce their nationality.

Xu and Chung frequently travelled to China as part of their work with Chinese spouses where they met two Chinese Communist Party officials identified only by the surnames Sun and Yang, according to the court documents.

The pair also “continuously reported” to Sun and Yang “on the participation in politics, related activities, and statements of leaders” among Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, the documents said.

Xu and Chung “jointly planned to expand the political influence of the mainland spouse community in our country”, the court papers said. AFP