District prosecutors are accusing former deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council Chang Hsien-yao of working on behalf of the Chinese government to interfere in last year's presidential election. Chang has denied the allegations.
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00:00District prosecutors are accusing former Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council Zhang
00:04Xianyao of working on behalf of the Chinese government to interfere in last year's presidential
00:09election.
00:11Prosecutors allege that he tried to boost momentum for Terry Guo's presidential campaign
00:14on instruction from China.
00:16Guo is the founder and former chairman of Taiwanese company Foxconn, one of the world's
00:20largest electronics manufacturers, and ran for president as an independent in the lead-up
00:25to last year's presidential election.
00:27He ultimately withdrew from the race after he failed to broker a deal to unite the two
00:31opposition parties, the TPP and KMT.
00:34Guo has been known to have close personal and business ties to China.
00:38Many of Foxconn's factories are in China, and President Xi Jinping has addressed him
00:42as an old friend.
00:43They allege Zhang published fake polls that found Guo and Ke could beat Ho in the election,
00:48and say his actions broke Taiwan's anti-infiltration law, among others.
00:52When asked if they had any comment, the Mainland Affairs Council said this.
00:57What we know is that when they were investigating the case of Xu Shaodong of Sanyuan Group,
01:07they also found Zhang Jianyao.
01:12But because this case has gone to court, we don't have more information to provide.
01:20Zhang has denied the allegations, but it's not the first time he's been accused of working
01:24with China.
01:25In 2014, he was accused of leaking secrets to China while working at the Mainland Affairs
01:29Council, but prosecutors later closed the case, saying there was not enough evidence
01:33to indict him.
01:35The case comes as Taiwanese officials have been accused of spying for China, and as Taiwan
01:39has accused China of meddling in its 2024 presidential election, and more broadly, launching
01:44disinformation campaigns within Taiwan.
01:47Justin Wu and Keynes Caranta for Taiwan Plus.