Beijing has sponsored cut-price trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island, according to Taiwan sources and documents, unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called “election interference”.
President Tsai Ing-wen and other Taiwan officials have warned that China might try to sway voters toward candidates seeking closer ties with Beijing in the elections, which could define the island’s relations with China. But the scale of the Chinese activity has not previously been reported.
Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has ramped up military and political pressure to force the island to accept its sovereignty, frames the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections as a choice between “peace and war”, calling the ruling party dangerous separatists and urging Taiwanese to make the “right choice”.
Taiwanese law forbids election campaigns from receiving money from “external hostile forces”, including China, and prosecutors in southern Taiwan this week said they were investigating 22 people, including grassroots politicians, for potential violations of election and security laws.
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The agencies believe the trips, with discounted accommodations, transportation and meals, were subsidised by units under China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said the person, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
“Election interference has started under the name of group tours,” said a second Taiwan security official, who was briefed on the matter, adding Beijing was targeting politicians crucial to the island’s administrative systems who play key roles in shaping public opinion.
The number from the Taipei district has “increased significantly” compared with elections four years ago and registrations have been “fairly enthusiastic”, one report said.
In the investigation in the southern city of Kaohsiung, prosecutors said they believed the five trips from there were fully funded by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
He said external forces were trying to influence citizens in an “unprecedented fashion” and urged Taiwanese not to accept perks or instructions from Chinese authorities when travelling there.
Recent government scrutiny has prompted some politicians to be more low-key about such trips, the two officials said, with some making arrangements separately, then gathering in China.
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