Reunification Alliance Party officials indicted in election graft case

Taipei, Feb. 29 (CNA) Two officials of the Reunification Alliance Party were indicted Thursday for violating Taiwan's election laws and Anti-Infiltration Act, according to the Taiwan Pingtung District Prosecutors Office.

The two men, surnamed Huang (黃) and Chang (張), are the party's head and director-general in its Pingtung chapter, respectively. They allegedly organized trips to China for Pingtung residents in September and October last year, at the request of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), prosecutors said in a news release.

According to the prosecutors office, the travelers on those trips were required to pay only their airfare, while their accommodation, local transportation, food and activity fees were covered by China.

During the trip, the visitors from Taiwan met with Chinese officials, who said that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are "one family" and also spoke about "peaceful reunification" and the "1992 consensus" -- a political term which implies that Taiwan and China belong to "one China," prosecutors said.

The officials also hinted that the Pingtung residents should vote for a certain presidential candidate and certain political parties, the prosecutors office said.

Upon their return to Taiwan, Chang and Huang convened a meeting of their party's Pingtung chapter and urged the members, including those who had been on the trip to China, to vote for a certain presidential candidate, certain legislative candidates and certain parties in the Jan. 13 elections, prosecutors said.

Chang and Huang also made similar appeals on online communication platforms, according to prosecutors, who said that the two men are believed to have been taking directives from China.