Taiwan arrests communist candidate standing in local elections

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TAIWAN arrested the leader of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party (TPCP) today, alleging his candidacy in the local elections is directed by the Communist Party of China.

Prosecutors also alleged that TPCP chairman Lin Te-wang tried to buy votes by taking people to mainland China where they received hospitality, a very expensive electoral strategy if true.

Taiwanese police have harassed Mr Lin before, charging him with attempting to influence elections on the mainland’s behalf last year. He was found not guilty then.

Taipei-Beijing relations have hit a new low as the breakaway island province has banned residents from visiting the mainland for commemorations of the 160th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen’s birth on November 12.

Sun led the 1911 revolution which overthrew China’s last dynasty, the Qing, and founded the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party, which the Communist Party would later defeat. However, the parties were allied during his lifetime and he is revered as a national hero on both sides of the Taiwan strait. His mausoleum in Nanjing is often visited by Taiwanese visitors to the mainland.