The Chinese Unification Promotion Party, also known as the Unionist Party, is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

that promotes

Chinese unification Chinese unification, also known as the Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China ("China" or "Mainland China") and the ...

History

On 9 May 2004, Taiwanese

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

Chang An-lo Chang An-lo (; born 13 March 1948), also known as the White Wolf (), is a Taiwanese Chinese ultranationalist, organized crime figure, entrepreneur, and politician. He is supportive of Chinese unification, having founded the Chinese Unification ...

established the

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

"Defending China's Great Alliance" in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, with the help of the

Bamboo Union The United Bamboo Gang (UBG; ; Bamboo Union triad) is the largest of Taiwan's three main criminal Triads. They are reported to have roughly 10,000 members. The membership consists largely of '' waishengren'' (Mainland Chinese) and has had his ...

triad (who he was formerly a leader of). Chang then helped register the Taiwan branch of his organization as a political party on 9 September 2005, under the name "Chinese Unification Promotion Party". In 2017, the party claimed to have over 30,000 members, many of whom were accused by authorities of having ties to

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, something Chang himself does not deny. Other sources have put their membership at approximately 60,000.

Controversies

The controversy about the China Unification Promotion Party mainly revolves around its pro-

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

position, intimidating

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

activists from Hong Kong and

Pan-Green Coalition The pan-Green coalition, pan-Green force or pan-Green groups is a nationalist political coalition in Taiwan (Republic of China), consisting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP), Taiwan Solidarity Union ...

leaders in Taiwan, using the triad background of their members.

Attack on Lam Wing-kee

Lam Wing-kee, the owner of

Causeway Bay Books Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店) is an independent bookstore in Taipei, Taiwan which until December 2015 was an upstairs bookstore located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The first bookstore in Hong Kong was popular with tourists from mainlan ...

, announced in September 2019 that he planned to re-open the store in Taiwan. The store focuses on the history, social economy and other cultural related books of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. The store publishes the works of dissident creators, and serve as a connection and mutual assistance base for people in Taiwan and Hong Kong, dedicated to preserving Hong Kong culture and promoting the free exchange of ideas and culture. On 21 April 2020, Lam was splashed with paint by unidentified men while dining at a café. The

Mainland Affairs Council The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China in Taiwan. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the cross-strait relations po ...

posted on Facebook stating that Taiwan is a democratic country and cannot tolerate such behaviors. A self-proclaimed member of the Unionist Party left a message under the post, reading, "This is just our first warning to you, e willkill you in a matter of minutes" (這只是我們對你的第一次警告，搞死你分鐘的事). The

New Power Party The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan indepe ...

responded to the incident by urging the Taiwan government to dissolve and ban the Unionist Party. They also referred to the previous assaults against

Joshua Wong Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō until it disbanded following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law ...

Denise Ho Denise Ho Wan-see (born 10 May 1977) is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer and actress. She is also a pro-democracy and Hong Kong human rights activist. In 2012, Ho came out as lesbian, the first mainstream Cantonese singer to do so. In 2014, H ...

and other Hong Kong democrats conducted by members of Unionist Party, and criticized the government for its inaction.

Notes

References

External links