Taiwan Court Sentences Mainland-Born Activist to Seven Years for Conspiring With Chinese Officials

Overview

• The New Taipei District Court on Tuesday sentenced Hsu (also reported as Xu) Chun-ying to seven years in prison after finding she took orders from Chinese contacts to influence Taiwanese elections.
• The court convicted Hsu of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act and the Banking Act and said she moved about 24.5 million New Taiwan dollars through improper channels from China.
• Prosecutors and court papers say Hsu met repeatedly with two mainland figures identified as Yang and Sun and that they directed her to campaign for specific Taiwan People’s Party candidates in 2022 and 2024.
• Hsu is a mainland-born naturalized Taiwanese who led a cross-strait spouses' group that Taiwan's Interior Ministry disbanded in May for governance lapses, and the TPP says its contact with her was limited to immigrant affairs.
• The ruling has sharpened a national-security versus civil-rights debate, with officials citing a need to curb Beijing influence and critics warning that vague law language risks stigmatizing mainland spouses and immigrant advocates.