A deceased chairman and the secretary-general of the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association are suspected of having received funds from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) to develop the association and attack democracy advocates in Taiwan.
The two officials were charged with contraventions of the National Security Act (國家安全法). Chou Ching-chun (周慶峻), the former chairman, died of an illness last year, while secretary-general Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) is still on Taiwan’s wanted list after she absconded to China.
However, before slipping out of Taiwan, Zhang told prosecutors about the association’s inner workings, including how Chou had received funds from the TAO and its branch offices
INFILTRATION: The TAO urged businesspeople who supported the association to wire money to its account at Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, prosecutors saidBy Chien Li-chung and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) funded the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association’s attempts to influence Taiwanese politics, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The office issued a wanted notice for the association’s late chairman Chou Ching-chun’s (周慶峻) wife, Lin Ming-mei (林明美), and its secretary-general Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) on charges of contravening the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法).
It said it would not posthumously indict Chou.
Prior to fleeing to China, Zhang was quoted as telling the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau that Chou had received funding from the TAO’s main office, as well as the TAO branches in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong and Hubei provinces,
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