Taipei: The Taiwan High Court has sentenced former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei to two years and eight months in prison for violating the Anti-Infiltration Act and ordered her to return her illegal gains. The court found that Ma breached Article 4 of the act by promoting election positions under the influence of foreign sources of infiltration.

According to Focus Taiwan, the court highlighted that Ma was aware of China's longstanding threats to Taiwan's political order and social stability. Nevertheless, she failed to resist financial inducements from Chinese foundation personnel. By sharing information in exchange for funds from an organization under Beijing's influence, Ma was deemed a "local collaborator" aiding a foreign power's attempts to sway Taiwan's elections. The court's decision is open to appeal.

In March 2024, Ma was indicted by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office for allegedly receiving approximately US$34,322 in various currencies from two Chinese friends. The payments were reportedly for the contact details of national security personnel and government liaison registers during her failed legislative bid in January 2024.

Earlier, the Taoyuan District Court sentenced Ma to eight months for violating the Personal Data Protection Act but cleared her of breaching the Anti-Infiltration Act and National Security Act, citing a lack of evidence regarding confidential document use and the Chinese friends' affiliations with infiltration entities. The recent ruling followed a prosecutorial appeal.

During the January 2024 elections, Ma ran as an independent against Kuomintang's Niu Hsu-ting and the Democratic Progressive Party's Cheng Yun-Peng, securing 20,600 votes, or 8.56% of the total.