Two pro-Beijing politicians in Taiwan have been charged with accepting funds from the Chinese mainland.

Observers said the decision to charge the pair, from the Chinese Democratic Progressive Party, reflected the authorities’ determination to counter alleged inference in the island’s political process ahead of the presidential election in January.

Zhang Xiuye, 58, the party’s secretary general, and its chairman Chou Ching-chun, 78, were charged with violating election law on Tuesday for allegedly accepting NT$1.89 million (US$62,000) in political contributions from the mainland.

“The two, running for the Taipei city council positions last year, failed to report … the source and the amount of the contributions after the race, and for this they were charged with violating the election law,” a spokesman for the Taipei district prosecutors office said.

The pair, who are also senior figures in the hard-core pro-Beijing Chinese Patriotic Alliance Association failed to win election to the city council. Both have denied wrongdoing, saying they had no idea they were required to declare funding.

According to prosecutors, all candidates running for public posts must declare the amount and source of the political contributions they have received within five months after the election is held.

Chou also denied that the contribution had been given to him by the mainland authorities to influence the island’s politics.

“The contribution was from a company I owned on the mainland,” Chou said, adding he merely transferred the money to help finance the campaign.

View photos President Tsai Ing-wen is seeking re-election next year. Photo: EPA-EFE More

Prosecutors said Chou owns a farm house in Hubei province in central China. Last year he transferred the equivalent of NT$1.89 million from the mainland and donated the money to his party, but the donation was considered by prosecutors to be an illegal contribution because of its origins.

Under Taiwanese law, political contributions from foreign countries, the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau are prohibited and offenders can face up to five years in jail.

Beijing – which considers Taiwan a wayward province that must eventually return to the mainland fold, by force if necessary – has been accused of stepping up its efforts to influence January’s election to prevent President Tsai Ing-wen winning a second term.

Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, has refused to accept the one-China principle and various opinion polls have shown that she is leading in the run-up to the presidential poll to be held in January.

Observers said the decision to charge the pair was part of the government’s efforts to counter growing mainland interference in the island’s elections.

“Actually, the persons involved are not running for the presidency or any parliamentary seats. The charges are meant to tell China that Taiwan is aware of what Beijing is trying to do,” said Wang Han-hsing, a lawyer specialising in cross-strait and electoral law.

Yao Li-ming, head of Taipei-based Parliament Watch Foundation, said it was no longer news that the mainland was trying to “stretch its hand into Taiwan’s elections”.

At one time the mainland would directly send money to someone in Taiwan to try to sway the election results, but in recent years, it has been doing so in a more subtle way, he said.

“Relevant Chinese organisations, like the Taiwan Affairs Office, have been known to ask Taiwanese businessmen based on the mainland to contribute funds to certain party candidates whom they prefer,” Yao said.

View photos The KMT’s Han Kuo-yu is seen as Beijing’s preferred candidate. Photo: AP More

Taiwan’s Investigation Bureau also said there was intelligence to suggest that Beijing was also bribing media outlets and popular social media accounts to spread fake news and attack or promote certain candidates.