Taiwan court sentences a woman to 7 years in prison for conspiring with Chinese officials

BANGKOK (AP) — A Taiwanese court on Tuesday sentenced a woman who advocated for spouses born in mainland China to seven years in prison, after finding her guilty of conspiring with Chinese government officials and proxies to influence Taiwanese politics.

The court in New Taipei city ruled that Hsu Chun-ying, who was herself born in China, violated the Anti-Infiltration Act for contact with Chinese officials and the Banking Act by transferring 24.5 million New Taiwan Dollars ($760,000) outside of proper banking channels from China.

The case has garnered intense media attention, partly because of Hsu’s identity as a so-called mainland spouse — those born in China who immigrated to Taiwan after marriage. The community has been viewed with suspicion amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan.

Taiwan and China split after a civil war in 1949. China claims the self-governing island as part of its territory, and has sent fighter jets and navy ships to the island on a daily basis as part of military exercises. Taiwan, in response, has focused on strengthening its defense and ramping up its arms purchases.

Taiwan's government said Hsu's case involved gaining intelligence for mainland China and influencing Taiwanese politics.

Prosecutors had publicized exchanges between Hsu and a director from the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, which showed discussions about which political party to support in order to get lawmaker positions for mainland spouses in both the Taipei mayoral election and later the 2024 presidential election.

Hsu moved to Taiwan after getting married and has Taiwanese citizenship. She was briefly considered to be a Taiwan People's Party legislator candidate, but had backed out owing to questions about her loyalty and affiliation with China.

“I had just wanted to serve New Residents,” she said in 2024, referring to the Taiwanese government's term for immigrants to the island.

Hsu most recently served as the head of the Cross Straits Marriage and Family Services alliance. The organization was disbanded by Taiwan's Interior Ministry in May for not holding elections for their directors in time.

Hsu could not be reached for comment.

According to prosecutors, Hsu met often with Yang Wentao, director of the service center for cross-strait marriages and families at the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and Sun Xian, deputy head of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang in Shanghai.

Prosecutors said that Hsu and Yang coordinated to support Huang Shan-shan, an independent candidate for Taipei mayor, who later joined the TPP. Later, Hsu also campaigned for Ko Wen-je, a presidential candidate and TPP founder, at their instructions, prosecutors said.

Critics said the judgment was problematic because the wording of the charges was vague.

“The DPP government is deliberately avoiding drawing clear red lines, to ensure that it can arbitrarily weaponize this charge,” said Shangguanluan, a writer and activist who has advocated on behalf of mainland spouses in Taiwan.

In 2025, Taiwan deported three Chinese spouses for advocating for reunification with China using military force. Taiwanese immigration authorities issued an order to 12,000 mainland spouses who already had Taiwanese citizenship to submit records showing that they had canceled their Chinese household registrations.

Worries over espionage and tech smuggling to China have grown as authorities continue to prosecute cases.

Taiwanese authorities in March investigated three men for trying to smuggle Super Micro computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips to China. Last year, a Taiwanese court sentenced four soldiers, including three members of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's security team, to seven years in prison for giving sensitive information to China.