Taitung magistrate's Straits Forum video still under investigation: MAC

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Taiwan's central government has not yet determined whether Taitung County Magistrate Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) broke the law by participating in China's Straits Forum through a prerecorded video, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday.

"Only after the investigation is completed will we know whether she did in fact violate Article 33-1 of the Cross-Strait Act," MAC head Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on a radio program Thursday morning.

He said MAC had referred the matter to the Ministry of the Interior, the competent authority, for an administrative investigation into Yao's participation in the forum, whose main conference was held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, on June 13.

Article 33-1 of the act stipulates that no individual or organization in Taiwan may engage in any form of cooperation with agencies in China involved in "political work against Taiwan" or activities "affecting national security or interests."

MAC, Taiwan's top government agency for cross-strait affairs, previously characterized the forum as a "Chinese Communist Party united front platform" targeting Taiwan and barred central and local government officials from attending the annual event.

The move expanded a previous ban that had applied only to central government personnel. As a result, Yao's application to attend the forum in person was rejected in early June.

Chiu's Thursday remarks came after Yao of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) was reported to have delivered prerecorded remarks at a June 13 signing ceremony held as part of the forum.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Yao offered her congratulations in the video and said the ceremony, at which Chinese companies agreed to purchase Taiwanese agricultural and fishery products, was "a major encouragement" to Taiwan's farmers and fishers.

Amid the controversy, Yao said Wednesday that she had a clear conscience about her actions and that recording the video was "the right thing to do."

The central government's investigation also drew criticism Wednesday from KMT lawmaker Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), who noted that President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) visited China for exchanges while serving as Tainan mayor from 2010 to 2017.

At a legislative session, Wang questioned the government's standards for deciding which cross-strait platforms Taiwanese officials can and cannot attend.

Chiu responded that Lai would not have participated in exchanges through a united front platform, stressing that the Straits Forum is a platform for propaganda intended to infiltrate, divide and undermine Taiwan.