British media special report on DPP’s Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang facing security threats and campaigning

DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang (middle) solicits votes from voters at the market. A reporter from the British "Observer" recently went to Taiwan to cover the Taipei mayoral election campaign, and featured a special report on various security threats that DPP candidate Shen Boyang and his family have faced in recent years. (Photo by reporter Chen Yikuan)

As Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang heads into local elections, a reporter from the British newspaper The Observer went to Taiwan to cover his campaign and report on the security pressure he has faced in recent years. Shen Boyang said that he received an anonymous email in April last year, in which the Chinese character "die" was written on family photos, and the content threatened to kill his wife and daughter.

The Observer published a special report from Taipei on the 20th by reporter Danny Vincent, from the street sweeping campaign in the northern Taiwan market to Shen Boyang's interview at the Legislative Yuan Research Building, documenting his campaign for Taipei mayor and personal safety concerns. Reports pointed out that Shen Boyang is running for office on behalf of the Democratic Progressive Party, and his opponent is the current Kuomintang Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan.

The report described that Shen Boyang attracted a large number of supporters to line up for photos during the market rally, and the media also gathered for interviews; there were several people wearing masks outside the crowd taking photos and using mobile phones. Shen Boyang's team stated that they could not confirm that the other person was a supporter or had another purpose. In October 2024, Shen Boyang also discovered a pinhole camera hidden on a motorcycle outside his home. In January this year, a Chinese Internet person posted satellite photos indicating the location of his home and office. Regarding the anonymous email in April last year, the police traced the IP address to Japan, but did not confirm the identity of the sender.

China sets up reporting hotline to increase vigilance when traveling abroad

In October last year, the Chongqing police in China launched a criminal investigation into Shen Boyang on suspicion of "separatism" and set up a reporting hotline for the public to provide clues about his activities. The Observer actually called one of the numbers and confirmed that it could be directly connected to the Chongqing reporting hotline. Shen Boyang said that after the investigation was launched, he became more cautious when traveling to countries with which China had extradition agreements because the other countries had said that he might be arrested if he went abroad.

Shen Boyang posted a Threads video during his recent trip to Tokyo. Netizens noticed that he seemed to have heavy equipment under his clothes and asked if he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He confirmed that he often wears it when traveling outside Taiwan and also wore it when he recently visited the United States. The "Observer" also mentioned that when he went to Lithuania to attend a conference in 2023, he discovered that items in the hotel room had been moved and a warning sticker that read "You may die" was left behind. The police did not identify the person involved.

The Observer also visited the Black Bear Academy Civil Defense Training Ground, which Shen Boyang co-founded, and saw people receiving training such as operating small drones. Black Bear Academy said it currently has 20,000 members and courses include first aid, information warfare and conflict preparedness. Shen Boyang said that rather than speculating on China's next move, it is more important to strengthen the resilience of Taiwan and the city itself now.

The report finally returned to the Taipei night market campaign scene. Shen Boyang said that openly participating in the mayoral election was a way to face this kind of pressure, and said that his responsibility was to show courage to the citizens, "We will not bow down."