At least 70 candidates for the nine-in-one election are involved in "cross-strait exchange" activities officially recognized by the CCP. In the past three years, they have participated in 86 activities and connected 114 CCP officials in 17 provinces. (Taken from Taiwan Information Environment Research Center IORG)
The 2026 nine-in-one election is about to begin. Taiwan's Information Environment Research Center (IORG) released the 146th weekly report today, sorting out 70 candidates who have been involved in the "cross-strait exchanges" of the Chinese Communist Party in the past three years. Among them, county and city councilors have the most status, Taipei City has the most regions, party affiliations are the Kuomintang of China, and the Democratic Progressive Party has zero involvement.
IORG released a weekly report today stating that among all candidates for the 2026 nine-in-one election, at least 70 are involved in "cross-strait exchange" activities officially recognized by the Chinese Communist Party and held within the territory of the People's Republic of China. In the past three years, they have participated in 86 activities, connected 114 Chinese Communist Party officials in 17 provinces, and were promoted by the "China Taiwan Network" managed by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. The 70 2026 candidates are classified according to the public office they are running for. 28 people are registered to run for county and city councilors, the largest number, followed by 16 village chiefs.
Among the 22 counties and cities in the country, candidates in Taipei City, Kinmen County, Miaoli County, and Nantou County have the highest degree of involvement in "cross-strait exchanges" officially recognized by the CCP. Taipei City has the highest number of people involved (13) and the highest degree of involvement. Kinmen County has a constituency coverage of (46 .67%) is the highest; among the major political parties in the country, the Chinese Kuomintang candidate has the highest level of involvement in "cross-strait exchanges" officially recognized by the CCP, with 36 people involved, 66 attendees, and the degree of connections with CCP officials are significantly ahead of other political parties.
The Kuomintang Kinmen County Mayor candidate (current legislator) Chen Yuzhen and the Kuomintang Lianjiang County Mayor candidate Wang Zhongming participated in the most official "cross-strait exchange" activities with 7 official CCP endorsements in the past three years, followed by the KMT Taipei mayor candidate Chiang Wanan, the New Party Taipei City Council candidate You Zhibin, and the KMT Kaohsiung City Mayor candidate Liu Dewen participated in 5 activities.
IORG pointed out that among the 70 candidates involved in the CCP's "cross-strait exchanges" in 2026, more than half are representatives of public opinion, and the proportion of elected heads of counties, cities, towns and cities is relatively low. This is the same as the candidates in the past three elections, which may reflect the current status of our country's electoral system and the regulations related to the travel of public officials to China.
IORG analyzes that the elections for Taiwan’s chief executive are all single-seat elections, and the elections for public opinion representatives, except for legislators, are all single-entry non-transfer votes in multiple constituencies. Therefore, candidates will have different election strategies. "Cross-strait exchanges" are politically sensitive. Faced with single-seat elections that require more than half of the votes, candidates for chief executive will mostly adopt a more conservative election strategy that avoids controversy. Local public opinion representatives can be elected as long as they have enough votes, and candidates for public opinion representatives have more incentives to adopt extreme election methods.
The highest number of officials affected is "deputy state-level" officials. The Chinese Communist Party media prefers to publicize high-level activities at multiples
The report pointed out that among the 114 CCP officials at all levels who interacted with the 2026 candidates, the highest-ranking deputy state-level CCP officials were Su Hui, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Chairman of the Central Committee of the Taiwan League, and Zhang Ping, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress and Vice Chairman of the Mainland Side of the Cross-Strait Entrepreneurs Summit, both attended the event during the "17th Hubei Wuhan Taiwan Week".
The level of contact with CCP officials is mainly at the deputy department level, followed by the chief department level, chief division level, etc. However, "China Taiwan Net" prefers to highlight the activities of ministerial-level officials in its reports. 31 people attended the event, but there were 62 reported events. On average, each event attended by a minister-level official was reported twice by "China Taiwan Net."
