Chairman of Taiwan People's Communist Party Arrested

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Taiwan will hold local elections on November 28 to elect mayors and grassroots mayors. Although local elections mainly focus on people's livelihood issues, their results may still become an important indicator of public support for the DPP and President Lai Ching-te, and provide a reference for the 2028 presidential election.

According to the Central News Agency, the prosecutors issued a statement on Sunday stating, "After preliminary investigation, the defendants Lin Nan and Chen Nan were respectively the chairman and Central Committee member of the Taiwan People's Communist Party. Lin Nan was instructed and funded by the CCP to run for Tainan District Chief election in Xinying District, Tainan City, and then instructed Chen Nan to run for Wuling District District Chief election, Hsinchu City North District. He also repeatedly solicited many people with voting rights to travel to China and accepted receptions on arrival to bribe the election."

Although the People's Communist Party under the leadership of Lin Dewang has very limited influence in democratic Taiwan, Lin Dewang himself has been involved in judicial cases before due to his ties to China. The Taipei Times reported that Lin Dewang and another leader of the party were prosecuted for allegedly accepting Chinese infiltration and attempting to interfere in the election, but were eventually found innocent by the court in 2025.

So far, Beijing has not commented on Lin Dewang’s arrest.

Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province of China and has said it would not rule out using force to achieve reunification if necessary. Accusations of mainland China interfering in Taiwan's elections have been commonplace during Taiwan's previous elections.