‘STAR FIRE T’:The party spokesman and others were allegedly paid to engage with key figures, and were to report to the TAO once the relationships progressed
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 03, 2018
By: Huang Chien and Hsieh Chun-lin / Staff reporters
An investigation into New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) has found that
Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chou Shih-yu at a news conference yesterday in Taipei provides information on an investigation into alleged funding from China of the pro-unification Web site Fire News. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) allegedly promised to pay Wang NT$15 million to NT$16 million (US$506,278 to US$540,030) annually for running the pro-unification propaganda Web site Fire News (燎原新聞網), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Wang cofounded Fire News, which Chinese student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭) helped promote as a consultant, and allegedly used it as a platform to recruit members for an organization he was setting up for the Chinese government, the report said.
In a document titled Fire News 2015 Year-end Working Report, Zhou wrote that the Web site had received US$200,000 in funding from the TAO, of which Wang’s father “lost US$20,000.” [FULL STORY]
