Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Jiang/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 3.0
THE TAIWAN HIGH COURT has sentenced Ma Chih-wei, formerly an independent legislative candidate, to two years and eight months in jail on charges of accepting Chinese funding for her election bid. The case could set a precedent for future rulings, when it comes to Taiwanese political candidates who accept funding from the CCP, as part of China’s United Front efforts in Taiwan.
Ma is accused of accepting the funding in the form of US dollars in the form of cash and cryptocurrency. Reportedly, Ma accepted 1.05 million NT worth of cryptocurrency. This was ruled to violate the Anti-Infiltration Act, though Ma can still appeal the decision. Prosecutors previously recommended in 2024 that Ma face three years and eight months in jail, as well as a two million NTD fine.
The ruling overturned a previous ruling that did not find Ma guilty of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act, on the basis of lack of evidence. Prosecutors alleged otherwise, asserting that Ma had breached the Anti-Infiltration Act in accepting Chinese funding for a legislative bid, as well as the National Security Act. Specifically, Ma provided a list of contacts in the central government, as well as business cards of national security personnel, to Chinese handlers.
Ma was previously a spokesperson for the Taoyuan chapter of the TPP. The TPP was quick to cut ties with Ma after the scandal first emerged in January 2024. Namely, the allegations would have potentially impacted the presidential campaign of TPP founder Ko Wen-je. At the time, the TPP was seeking to dial back the perception of the DPP as favoring stronger ties with China, despite Ko expressing support for reviving the controversial Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement that was opposed by the 2014 Sunflower Movement and building a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen.
Ironically, links to China have continued to be a problematic issue for the TPP. As part of its unique rotation system of party list legislatures, this would have made Lee Zhenxiu, who is the Chinese spouse of a Taiwanese person, a party list legislator for the TPP. Questions have been raised about whether Lee may, in fact, hold a Chinese passport, at a time that the Lai administration has sought to enforce laws forbidding Taiwanese civil servants from holding Chinese passports, nationality, household registration, or residency permits.
Regardless, Ma continued to be in the public eye after her scandal. In October 2024, Ma came under scrutiny for livestreaming a legislative interpellation, due to being out of jail because of appealing her sentence. DPP secretary-general Rosalia Wu raised that Ma’s presence in the legislature could potentially be a security breach, as in spite of the charges facing her, Ma was allowed into the legislature as a representative of a YouTube channel, Grass Media. Wu called for stronger measures, given the risk of a confidential leak.
Ma is hardly the only person in Taiwan accused of links to the Chinese government, inclusive of funding links or accepting direction from Chinese entities. The China Unification Promotion Party, for example, is accused of links to organized crime as well as taking orders from the CCP to act as a fifth column in Taiwan. Similarly, Taiwanese media outlets owned by the Want Want Group have been reported on by the Financial Times as accepting funding from the Chinese government and allowing China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to have a say in their editorial direction. Furthermore, each year sees numerous cases of espionage from members of the Taiwanese military, as well as government workers.
In the past, the government has adopted a slap on the wrist when it comes to espionage cases in a manner that has failed to deter them, but all indications are that the government is increasing punishments. The Lai administration has also been further proactive on the issue of Chinese spouses of Taiwanese, going after Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who are pro-unification streamers that support the unification of Taiwan and China by force, as well as if Chinese spouses of Taiwanese nationals still hold their Chinese household registration. In this sense, the Ma Chih-wei ruling comes at a sensitive time.