by Brian Hioe

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Photo Credit: Ma Chih-wei/Facebook

A RECENT INCIDENT involving former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei live streaming a legislative interpellation has been criticized by DPP legislative secretary-general Rosalia Wu, among others, as a security breach.

Ma faces charges over accepting funding from the Chinese government for an independent legislative run. Prosecutors recommended earlier this year that Ma face three years and eight months in jail, as well as a two million NTD fine. This is a hefty fine and prison term for a country in which spying charges have historically been treated with lighter sentences than for cannabis charges.

Ma was originally a spokesperson for Ko Wen-je’s TPP. Yet the TPP tried to distance itself from Ma after the allegations broke out in January, expelling her from the party. Specifically, news of the allegations took place shortly before elections took place on January 13th, at a time in which the TPP was trying to moderate its cross-strait stances. The TPP stressed that Ma had already been expelled from the party over ethics violations.

Charges against Ma are extensive. Ma was accused of receiving 1.06 million NT in election funds from Chinese operatives, receiving this in exchange for information on government agencies, including confidential information such as the names, titles, and phone numbers of individuals working in the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, National Security Bureau, and Presidential Office.

Ma traveled to China between April and November last year on multiple occasions, as subsidized by the CCP, during which she received funds in cash from her CCP contact, with some funds funneled through a foundation. This was used to pay for campaign advertising.

However, later on, payments from the Chinese government took place through cryptocurrency, to make it easier to transfer funds. This is the first case of a political candidate in Taiwan receiving funding from the Chinese government through cryptocurrency.

It is to be seen what punishment Ma eventually faces. Other highly public incidents, such as when several New Party spokespersons who ran an online media outlet called Fire News were accused of seeking to organize a spy ring in 2018, ended with no charges faced by the involved suspects.

Ma is currently free because she is appealing her sentence, and will not be jailed until the final verdict. However, Wu criticized the security breach that Ma was allowed into the legislature, claiming to be reporting for YouTube channel, The Grass Media, stating that to avoid confidential materials being leaked, there is a need for stronger measures.

Ma Chih-wei (right) and TPP chair Ko Wen-je (left) during her time as a TPP candidate. Photo credit: Ma Chih-wei/Facebook

This perhaps points to the trade-off between security and democratic freedoms in Taiwan. At present, security for many parts of the legislature are minimal. Access to the legislature is not restricted to media outlets, but also allowed for citizen journalists. Yet Taiwan’s democratic freedoms, including free access to information, can be weaponized against it by China. It is, in fact, improbable that there have not been incidents of Chinese spying on the legislature in the past.

But the issues at hand are deeply rooted in Taiwanese politics. Elected KMT politicians themselves have been accused of leaking confidential military secrets to the Chinese government. This includes legislator Ma Wen-chun, who was accused of leaking details of Taiwan’s domestic submarine program to China and South Korea, taking photos of materials discussed in the defense committee of the legislature using her cell phone, and refusing to sign a pledge not to share documents reviewed as part of committee discussions.

Despite such allegations, the KMT still chose Ma to be the co-chair of the defense committee of the legislature in the current session, showing that the party hopes for Ma to be the public face of KMT defense policy. More broadly, Taiwan has also long faced issues regarding the lack of any classified intelligence system, such as exists in the US.

Still, it proves a broader question as to how to balance transparency in the legislature with security protocols. The demand for greater transparency, including the live streaming of meetings, took place after the 2014 Sunflower Movement in order to avoid the “black box” means by which the KMT attempted to pass the CSSTA trade agreement. But transparency could also be turned against Taiwan.

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