EFFECT ON TAIWAN: National Policy Research member Kuo Yu-jen said that the 15 cities and counties would be the best way for China to rapidly infiltrate the nation

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 27, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Beijing would likely target the 15 cities and counties where the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won mayoral and commissioner elections to promote cross-strait exchanges or use them to infiltrate the nation, academics said at a conference in Taipei yesterday.

Following the KMT’s gains in Saturday’s nine-in-one elections, Beijing is expected to begin promoting exchanges with those areas, Cross-Strait Policy Association secretary-general Wang Zhin-sheng (王智盛) told the conference, which was on the implications of the elections for cross-strait relations.

While the move would not be new, the elections have significantly expanded areas controlled by the KMT, Wang said.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to manipulate public opinion on cross-strait issues by promoting economic collaboration with eight cities and counties run by the KMT in 2016, its efforts were shown to be ineffective due to their low population and scattered locations, but the 15 cities and counties the KMT won on Saturday cover 80 percent of the population, he said.    [FULL  STORY]