Issue 21 Global Taiwan Brief Vol 4

Global Taiwan Brief Vol. 4, Issue 21 Global Taiwan Brief Vol 4. Issue1 21 Fortnightly Review Russell Hsiao Taiwan and Russia Ties and the China Factor By: I-wei Jennifer Chang A Taiwanese Perspective on the Impact of Hong Kong Protests in Taiwan By: Fang-Yu Chen Taiwan’s International Space: A Tale of Two Speeches By: Michael Mazza Fortnightly Review The Global Taiwan Brief is a By: Russell Hsiao bi-weekly publication released every other Wednesday and pro- Russell Hsiao is the executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) and edi- vides insight into the latest news tor-in-chief of the Global Taiwan Brief. on Taiwan. Political Warfare Alert: Is China Using Religious Organizations as Proxies to Funnel Editor-in-Chief Political Donations and Influence in Taiwan? Russell Hsiao In an interview with the magazine Mirror Weekly (鏡週刊), the head of the Chinese Uni- Staff Editor fication Promotion Party (CUPP) (also known as the Unionist Party)—a fringe pro-China Katherine Schultz political party in Taiwan—Chang An-Lo (張安樂 b. 1948) claimed that there are around 30 heads of temples on the island whom are either members of the CUPP or its support- The views and opinions expressed ers. The former triad leader mentioned several of these temples by name. They include in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily re- Tainan City Wenheng Temple (文衡殿), Taichung City Shengwu Temple (聖武宮), Chiayi flect the official policy or position 奉天宮朝天宮 County Fengtian Temple ( ), and Yunlin County Chaotian Temple ( ). Chang of the Global Taiwan Institute. stated how he would often be invited by representatives of these temples to partici- pate in their ceremonies or to help with managing cross-Strait exchange matters. For To view web sources cited in the instance, Yunlin County’s Beigang Chaotian Temple chairman and Guangfu village chief, published papers (underlined in Wu Tung-ho (吳東合, b. 1957), is reportedly a CUPP member, among others. printed text), visit http://global- Other temples such as the New Taipei City Youxuan Temple (祐玄宮), New Taipei City taiwan.org/2019/11/vol-4-is- Guanghe Fude Temple (廣和福德宮), Yunlin Country Beishui Bishui Temple (北壇碧水 sue-21/ 寺), Tainan City Four Seas Yunhai Temples (四鯤鯓雲海宮), and Yunlin County Taiyu Temple (太子宮) also reportedly had CUPP party members in senior management posi- Global Taiwan Institute tions. It should be noted that when asked by local reporters representatives of several of 1836 Jefferson Place NW, these temple associations assert that the views held by some of its board members are Washington DC 20036 their private views. [email protected] In a detailed expose of the CUPP’s network, a Commonwealth Magazine report from To subscribe, visit 2018 found that CUPP “has more than 100 locations around Taiwan and over 30,000 http://globaltaiwan.org/sub- members, had two people elected to village and town councils and two others elected scribe/. as ward chiefs in local elections in 2014. In 2016’s national elections, it received over 56,000 votes (about 0.5 percent of the votes cast) in the legislative party vote to de- © 2019 · Global Taiwan Institute Global Taiwan Brief Vol. 4, Issue 21 2 termine at-large legislative seats.” The article also ob- through which the Unionist Party connects all of Tai- served: wan. Because of their huge cash flows and unsupervised finances, temples have always been a pillar of the three main pillars of the Unionist Party are gangs, Taiwan’s underground economy. One insider says temples and overseas Taiwanese businesses. No par- some Unionist Party members have secured important ty dues are required and only 50 party members are positions in temple groups, but by and large the party needed to set up a local party chapter … They are and temples have a cooperative relationship. mainly linked together through temple groups around Taiwan. The White Wolf serves as the spiritual leader, In related news, a former candidate who ran for Taipei and because of his strong network of “red” (Chinese) City Council and member of the Chinese Patriotic Alli- connections, he is able to bond closely with influential ance Association (CPAA,中華愛國同心會 ) (also known local factions. [emphasis added] as the Concentric Patriotism Alliance), Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉), was indicted by prosecutors for having received Ongoing law enforcement investigations into whether and illegally using funds from China for political pur- Chang received financial contributions that were not poses. [1] Zhang ran in last November’s local elections reported in accordance with the law and suspicion on the China Democratic Progressive Party’s (CDPP, over embezzlement and tax evasion had reported- 中國民主進步黨) ticket for Wanhua district in Taipei ly uncovered the CUPP’s activities with these temple city. She concurrently serves as the secretary-general associations, which appear intended to exploit the of both the CPAA and the CDPP. The Chinese Patriotic lax government regulations over religious activities. Alliance currently has about 200 members. The chair- Indeed, China and its proxies in Taiwan may be using person and chairman of the two organizations is Zhou religious organizations as a conduit through which Chi- Qingjun (周慶峻, b. 1943). nese money are being funneled into Taiwan and used for political purposes. Taiwanese prosecutors charged Zhou for failing to ob- tain from the proper supervisory authority for permis- In a sense, the revelation by White Wolf of the rela- sion to raise funds from supporters on the “Sponsored tionships between pro-unification groups and temples Us” page of the Chinese Patriotic Alliance Association’s with China are not new. Yet, recent public confirmation website. According to prosecutors, Zhang received fi- by Chang and a senior intelligence official are notewor- nancial contributions in the amount of NT$ 179,000 thy. At The Jamestown Foundation’s 9th annual Chi- (US$ 5,883.85) and RMB 2,000 (US$ 285.30). The pros- na Defense and Security Conference in Washington, ecution also found out that Zhou and Zhang received DC co-sponsored by the Global Taiwan Institute, the political donations from Zhou’s Hubei Tongxin Lianfa deputy director-general of Taiwan’s National Security Agricultural Comprehensive Development Company ( Bureau—the island’s premier intelligence agency— 湖北同心聯發農業綜合開發公司) in 2018 located in Lieutenant General Vincent Chen gave the featured Hubei province (China) for the amount of NT$ 1.89 mil- remarks on the challenges of CCP influence operations lion (US$ 62,442.71). Zhang had allegedly registered in Taiwan and stated: “There are at least 22 pro-China the funds for the Chinese Patriotic Alliance’s operation organizations, political parties, and we have identified but used it for a campaign dinner celebrating the Na- a number of them with connection to organized crime tional Day of the People’s Republic of China and for her for extending their networking to local temples, busi- campaign for the Taipei City Council. nessmen, youths.” While the aforementioned incident represents a As I have also documented in a testimony before the straightforward case of direct funding, which is easi- US-China Security and Economic Review Commission er for authorities to monitor and prosecute, the flood on CCP United Front against Taiwan in April 2018: “The of Chinese money in Taiwan’s political space is much groups targeted by CCP United Front [in Taiwan] is harder to stem given its scale and the multiple chan- now broadly focused on 10 constituencies that include nels that it can go through. There are many indirect grass-roots villages, youth, students, Chinese spouses, channels of funding, in-kind contributions, and signal- aboriginals, pro-China political parties and groups, re- ing that are much harder to identify, prove intent, and ligious organizations, distant relatives, fishermen’s as- stop. This presents a serious challenge for law enforce- sociations, and retired generals.” And as the Common- ment authorities trying to prevent such activities, -par wealth article further noted: ticularly if it pertains to the activities of these temple The murky world of temple organizations, as opposed associations and other religious organizations. In his to democratic institutions, serves as the key platform Mirror Weekly interview, Chang made it a point that Global Taiwan Brief Vol. 4, Issue 21 3 he is not an agent of the CCP because China never au- after reading the news. thorized him, instead he referred to himself a “fellow According to Taiwan media reports, Shi Zhengping is 56 traveler of the CCP” (中共同路人) and proclaimed that years old and the chief economist of the Chinese state- “China is my god” and “to die [for her] would be fine.” owned “Huaxia Group” (華夏集團) and often travels The main point: White Wolf confirms that there are to China. He is also affiliated with the Nationalist Party around 30 heads of temples within Taiwan who are ei- (Kuomintang). When former president Chen Shui-bian ther members of the CUPP or its supporters. Temples of the Democratic Progressive Party was in power, he are considered a pillar of Taiwan’s underground econ- served as the representative for agricultural trade in omy. Because of lax regulations over temple activities the United States. Later, he worked as a commentator and their unsupervised finances, they may serve as a in the pro-China Want Want China Times Media Group conduit for Chinese money into Taiwan’s politics. and was critical of the Tsai government. Shi’s apparent detention in China is more interesting because he is [1] For a detailed profile of the Chinese Patriotic Al- considered part of the pro-China faction in Taiwanese liance Association, see, e.g., https://www.taiwanga- politics. zette.org/news/2018/10/25/they-used-to-be-anti- communist-but-now-they-play-to-beijings-tune.

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