New immigrants' group head gets 8 years in retrial

Kaohsiung, Jan. 20 (CNA) The head of a new immigrants' association in Taiwan was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday in a retrial for developing China-directed organizations in Taiwan, the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court said.

Zhou Manzhi (周滿芝), a Chinese spouse who later obtained Taiwanese citizenship, established the Taiwan New Inhabitants' Association and a Kaohsiung-based new immigrants sisters association under the direction of organizations substantively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the court said.

According to the ruling, the Shaanxi Province Patriotic Volunteers Association and the China Patriotic Volunteers Association operate in line with CCP united front directives and are subject to substantive control by provincial-level united front departments.

The judges said Zhou followed instructions from the two organizations to establish the Kaohsiung-based group and later expand it nationwide, planning and carrying out activities with specific united front objectives that amounted to developing affiliated organizations in Taiwan.

The court found that Zhou used the associations to target Chinese spouses, new immigrants and second-generation immigrants, posing a substantive threat to the Republic of China's constitutional order and undermining social stability.

After arriving in Taiwan in 2003, Zhou cooperated for several years with Chinese authorities under the guise of civic groups, conducting united front work in the name of cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges, while directly seeking guidance and financial support from senior united front officials, the ruling said.

Taking into account that the offenses involved ideological infiltration rather than traditional espionage, and that Zhou had no prior criminal record, the court sentenced her to eight years in prison for violating the National Security Act.

The ruling may be appealed.

The retrial followed a Supreme Court decision overturning Zhou's earlier acquittal, citing insufficient investigation and reasoning, including the handling of affiliated organizations, financial flows and national security intelligence.