We know that there is insider trading and what not going on in and around the world and we also see that politicians are being bought every year before and after the elections in order to gain a majority in the parliament and come to power. However, the case is very different when it comes to the situation between Taiwan and China because we have already noticed how much a change in power could shift the pendulum in one or the other way as was the case with USA withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan and how soon Taliban came to power after that. In order to not let the same thing happen in Taiwan, it is must that a strong government be placed in Taiwan.
However, we are now getting reports from reliable sources that China is trying to lure away the Taiwanese politicians in exchange for gifts as well as cheap trips to other parts of the world in order to convince them for its benefit. Taiwan’s sources and its documents say that “Beijing has sponsored cut-price trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called “election interference”.
It is worth mentioning that Taiwan’s law “forbids election campaigns from receiving money from “external hostile forces”, including China, and prosecutors in southern Taiwan this week said they were investigating 22 people, including grassroots politicians, for potential violations of election and security laws”. This is the case with most other countries as well but we have already seen how they find certain loopholes in the law and get around it.
Reuters was told that “security agencies are looking into more than 400 visits to China in the past month, most led by local opinion leaders such as borough chiefs and village heads”. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which believes most of these trips were sponsored by China’s Taiwan Affairs Council, said that it was “self-evident” how China is getting involved with these elections and added that “They have already made it clear that a so-called ‘right choice’ has to be made, meaning choosing candidates that the Chinese Communist Party prefers,”
