Taiwan security officials step up monitoring over fears mainland-based citizens will try to influence election
- Security chief says there is concern that ‘certain actions’ are being taken to influence January’s vote
- Around 400,000 Taiwanese live on the mainland, around 10 per cent of whom have permanent residency status
Taiwan will step up its efforts to monitor mainland-based businessmen and women amid fears they will try to influence the upcoming elections, a senior security official said on Monday.
The head of the National Security Bureau said there was concern that “certain actions” were being conducted to influence January’s vote.
In the presidential election, which is being held concurrently with the vote to select the legislature, Han Kuo-yu, the candidate of the mainland-friendly opposition Kuomintang, is challenging President Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.
There have been claims that Beijing is trying to influence the island’s elections, hoping its favoured candidate Han will replace Tsai.
The disclosure follows Beijing’s recent announcement of 26 preferential measures for Taiwanese businesspeople and students on the mainland in what the island’s government criticised as an attempt to woo more Taiwanese into identifying themselves with the mainland.