Taiwan rocked by new scandal over 'China spy'

Wang Liqiang told 60 Minutes Australia in November that he had led spying operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

A senior Kuomintang (KMT) official on Thursday denied a sensational report that he and a mainland businessman threatened to have a Chinese man who fled to Australia killed, unless he retracts his claims of spying for Beijing and meddling in Taiwan's affairs.



Just two days before the island's presidential election, Australian media are reporting that Wang Liqiang was threatened with death if he didn't produce a video saying President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had paid him to invent his story.



In November, Wang, who is seeking asylum in Australia, told various media outlets in the country that he had led spying operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.



He claimed he had been personally involved in the kidnapping of one of the five Causeway Bay booksellers in 2015, and was part of an intelligence operation hidden within a listed company which had infiltrated Hong Kong's media and universities.



Reports said that Wang had told the Australian security service in a sworn statement that he had also led efforts to meddle in Taiwan's municipal elections of 2018, as well as this weekend's presidential poll.



Melbourne-based newspaper The Age reports that Wang has gone to the Australian authorities over a series of messages he has received since Christmas Eve, some promising his debts would be cleared and he could return to China if he retracted his claims, and others threatening that he would be killed unless he did so.



The newspaper says Wang was told to make a video and was given a script in which he would falsely claim that the DPP had paid him a vast sum of money to make up the allegations.



Alex Tsai, a deputy secretary general of the KMT and a former legislator in Taiwan, is alleged to have been behind the messages along with a mainland businessman known only as "Mr Sun". The Age says it has also seen messages sent between Alex Tsai and Sun discussing how to deal with Wang.



At a press conference on Thursday, Alex Tsai admitted having been in contact with Wang and knowing Sun. He didn't deny trying to get Wang to change his story, but rejected the idea that he had threatened him in any way.



"As you see from our conversation, does it look like I'm threatening him? It's more like a big brother trying to talk and persuade a younger brother," he said.



Alex Tsai said he was only trying to help a friend and was acting as a middle-man, adding that Sun and Wang have a financial dispute.



He also said Wang was not a spy and his claims are "not always reliable".



Mainland authorities had earlier described Wang as being nothing but a fraud.