2020 Elections: Han plans to sue self-confessed spy if he visits

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter





Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday said that he would press charges against self-confessed former Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強) for making unfounded claims about him — if the latter visits Taiwan, adding that the nation’s elections should not be influenced by a random person claiming to be a spy.

If a spy can be so open about their profession that they would do photo shoots for media outlets, “all the spies should be running naked on the street” or going on dating variety TV shows, Han told reporters in Taitung.

“Can a spy be so ridiculous and have so much power [in a Chinese intelligence agency] at 26?” he asked.

Han was referring to Wang’s account of espionage operations he was involved in for the Chinese Communist Party in Taiwan and Hong Kong, which Australian newspapers on Saturday reported on.

In the reports, Wang said that he helped funnel about 20 million yuan (US$2.8 million) of campaign donations to Han in last year’s nine-in-one elections, adding that China had paid news networks CtiTV, China Television and Eastern Broadcasting Co to broadcast news designed to negatively affect the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ahead of the Jan. 11 elections.

“I hope he [Wang] will come to Taiwan to clearly explain the matter, and I promise that, when he gets off the plane, I will sue him,” Han said.

“It is over the top. Why should we let a 26-year-old fraudster influence Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections and cause so much trouble?” he said.

When he was contesting the KMT’s presidential primary, there were rumors about him having a child from an extramarital affair, Han said.

“Then comes this Chinese spy, when the presidential election is only about 40 days away,” he said. “When will we see an end to such lies?”

He urged the DPP to investigate Wang’s account and called on the National Communications Commission to remain neutral in its investigation of news networks.

“Our democracy and freedom are our most valuable assets and we cannot let these false rumors or any random person claiming to be a spy influence our elections,” he said.