Taiwan ruling party says China 'enemy of democracy' after meddling allegations (updated)

China Innovation Investment

25/11/2019 07:42

* Taiwan election campaign rocked by China meddling
accusations
    * Taiwan seeks to question two people from company named in
report
    * Chinese state-backed paper rubbishes man's claims

 (Adds details of people detained in connection with
infiltration allegations, paragraphs 3, 10-18, byline)
    By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard
    TAIPEI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's
ruling party denounced China as an "enemy of democracy" on
Monday following fresh claims of Chinese interference in the
island's politics ahead of presidential and legislative
elections on Jan. 11.
    The allegations, reported by Australian media, were made by
a Chinese asylum seeker in Australia who said he was a Chinese
spy. China, which claims Taiwan as its sacred territory, to be
brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary, has
branded the asylum seeker a fraud.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28402W urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28304M
    The Chinese man, Wang Liqiang, also provided details of
Chinese efforts to infiltrate universities and media in the
Chinese territory of Hong Kong, which has been rocked by months
of anti-government protests. 
    Cho Jung-tai, chairman of Tsai's Democratic Progressive
Party, which favours Taiwan's formal independence, said there
needed to be further investigations, noting that a lot of fake
news came from China.
    "The enemy of democracy is China. At present Taiwan's most
ambitious opponent, competitor, is also China," Cho told a news
conference in Taipei.
    Among several allegations levelled, the would-be defector
said he had helped guide positive media attention toward certain
Taiwanese politicians, including President Tsai's main opponent,
Han Kuo-yu of the China-friendly Kuomintang party.
    Cho said that while Kuomintang is the direct opponent in the
election, the biggest challenge came from China, describing it
as "strongest destructive force".
    The Kuomintang's Han said he would drop out of the election
if he has taken any money from the Chinese Communist Party. 
    Speaking at a separate news conference, Kuomintang's
spokeswoman Wang Hong-wei said the issue was one of "blundering
Communist espionage" that should be investigated immediately,
and accused the government of seeking to use the matter to
"manipulate elections".
    
    DOUBTS
    China's state-backed Global Times tabloid said in a Monday
opinion piece that Wang Liqiang sounded like an "opportunistic
liar, probably a swindler".
    Three Taipei-based diplomatic and security sources, speaking
on condition of anonymity, told Reuters they also doubted
whether Wang was who he claimed to be, though his allegations 
were plausible.
    "Our assessment is he is most likely not who is says he is,"
said one of the sources.
    Separately, Taiwan authorities have requested cooperation
from two directors of a Hong Kong-listed company which was named
in the Australian reports as being involved in Communist Party
infiltration of Hong Kong universities and media, the firm said
on Monday.
     Wang said he was part of an intelligence operation working
within Hong Kong-listed China Innovation Investment Limited
 1217.HK  to infiltrate Hong Kong universities and media with
pro-Communist Party operatives to counter the territory's
democracy movement.
    In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the company
said the reports were "all fictitious and forged" and that Wang
had never worked there.
    The company said that on Monday it had received notification
from Executive Director Xiang Xin and alternate Director Kung
Ching that they had been about to leave Taipei Taoyuan Airport
when Taiwanese investigators requested their cooperation in an
"investigation on the matter of the news reports".
    "In fact, Mr. Xiang and Mrs. Kung knew nothing about the
issues exposed in the news reports," the statement said. It said
both directors had engaged Taiwan lawyers to provide assistance.
It was not immediately clear who their lawyers were. 
    Taiwan's Investigation Bureau declined to comment. The
company declined to provide further details beyond what was in
the statement.

 (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))