RED LANTERNS Beijing recruits Taiwan stars for new ‘peace party’ (against Lai)

A singer and an actress said they had been contacted by a Beijing entertainment agency to offer them a million-dollar contract in exchange for joining a new political force, different from both the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party. Taipei Interior Ministry warning: “It is illegal to form political parties under the influence of foreign powers.”

Taipei () – A new party “for peace in Taiwan”, which cannot be identified with the Kuomintang and has the support of big names in local entertainment. After the indigestible result of the January elections – in which the progressive democrat William Lai was elected president, in continuity with the two terms of Tsai Ing-wen (although without a parliamentary majority) -, Beijing now seems to be aiming for a new strategy to reshuffle the cards in Taipei.

The operation is called Taiwan Support Peace Party (台灣擁和黨) and was revealed a few days ago by two local stars, singer R-chord (謝和弦) and actress Alexis Ho, with two different posts on Facebook. The artists said they had received an email from a Chinese company, Beijing Ciguang Film and Television Media Co., Ltd., proposing that they join this new “peace party” in Taiwan. In the message – disseminated by both through the media – they were only asked to add and publish on their social profiles a statement titled “Establish a new type of relations between the two shores of the Strait”; where the “new relations” evidently point to the reunification of Taipei with Beijing. In exchange, the company offered the singer and actress professional opportunities with a guaranteed annual minimum of more than 10 million Taiwanese dollars (almost 300,000 euros).

In the message the company also promises that “no less than 1,000 people will become founding members of the Taiwan Support Peace Party” once the statement has been published. According to information provided by the Chinese business research platform AiQicha, Beijing Ciguang Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. was founded in February 2023 with a registered capital of 90 million Chinese yuan (about 11.5 million euros). Its objective is to provide services such as film and television production as well as organize cultural and artistic exchange activities.

To date, no party with that name appears to have been registered in Taiwan. But the local government took the content of R-chord and Alexis Ho’s posts very seriously. Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior has issued a note warning the population that they “should not form political parties under the influence of foreign forces because that would violate the National Security Law and the Anti-Foreign Infiltration Law.”

Article 2 of Taiwan’s National Security Law states that no person may engage in acts such as starting, financing, hosting, manipulating, directing or developing an organization for a foreign country, China, Hong Kong or Macau, or for established organizations or substantially controlled by the latter.

In the last elections, the lack of agreement between the Kuomintang (the most pro-Beijing party) and the new Taiwan People’s Party of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je was what paved the way for Lai’s election, who the People’s Republic of China considers the main enemy of “reunification”, which he does not miss the opportunity to point out as a perspective that must be realized at any price.

Even at the 16th Strait Forum, which took place in recent days in Xiamen, the president of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Wang Huning – one of the main figures in Xi Jinping’s administration – once again attacked ” separatists advocating Taiwanese independence”, undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and harming the interests and well-being of the Taiwanese people. “Their actions will bring Taiwan to the brink of war and bring disaster to the island’s people,” he said, but promised that Beijing will welcome all Taiwanese who want to participate in cross-Strait exchanges.

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