Taipei: Two leaders of the Taiwan People's Communist Party have been acquitted by the Taipei District Court. Party Chairman Lin Te-wang and Vice Chairman Cheng Chien-hsin were found not guilty of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act and attempting to influence Taiwan's elections.

According to Focus Taiwan, the leaders were indicted in October 2023 after allegations that they accepted financial support and COVID-19 test kits from China to enhance their party's election prospects in 2022. Prosecutors claimed that Cheng's candidacy for the Taipei City Council, purportedly backed by China, breached the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act and the Anti-Infiltration Act.

The Taipei District Court determined that Cheng had not been officially announced as a candidate during the 2022 election campaign events. Therefore, neither Lin nor Cheng was found to have violated Article 45 of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, and they could not be penalized under the Anti-Infiltration Act. The ruling is open to appeal.

The indictment revealed that Lin, a former Central Committee member of the Kuomintang and a representative of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, frequently traveled to China for business. Since 2006, he has established several cross-strait exchange organizations. After being expelled from the KMT in 2016, Lin unsuccessfully ran as an independent for legislator in Tainan and founded the Taiwan People's Communist Party in 2017, serving as its chair since then.

Prosecutors suspected Lin of seeking financial support from China starting in 2017. Acting as party chair, he reportedly contacted officials from China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) and maintained close relations with TAO official Hu Chunguang. Lin allegedly ran for Tainan City Council in 2018 and nominated Cheng for Taipei City Council in 2022 under Hu's guidance.

The prosecution presented evidence that Lin received NT$30,000 and US$10,000 from the TAO, alongside 4,700 COVID-19 rapid antigen testing kits from China, to boost the party's electoral support. During Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August 2022, Lin organized protests and attempted to distribute NT$500 and test kits to participants as compensation, prosecutors claimed.

Prosecutors argued that Lin and Cheng had been under Chinese influence for over a decade, accusing them of non-cooperation in the investigation and seeking severe penalties.