The Taiwan People's Communist Party is a minor political party in

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 ...

. It was founded on 4 February 2017 by businessman Lin Te-wang, and was the sixth party with "communist" in its name to register with the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

History

Before establishing the Taiwan People's Communist Party, Lin Te-wang was a member of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

's central committee. Lin sought the Kuomintang's nomination for Tainan City Constituency 1 in the 2016 legislative election, but the party declined. He subsequently left the Kuomintang and ran unsuccessfully as an independent. Disgruntled with both the Kuomintang and the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

, Lin established the Taiwan People's Communist Party a year later, on 4 February 2017. Lin originally applied for party registration under the name "

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

in Taiwan", but was told by the Ministry of Interior that the name could not be used due to existing laws on Cross-Strait relations. The party's inaugural meeting was held on 4 February 2017 in Sinying District,

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

. In the run-up to the 2020 legislative election, the Taiwan People's Communist Party was accused of

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor handi ...

with money channeled from

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

. Tainan authorities launched a preliminary investigation after being tipped off and raided the party's offices on 30 December 2019. Sixty party members were detained for questioning. Tainan Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lin Chung-pin announced a few days later that those detained would be charged with contravening Taiwan's National Security Act and provisions of the . According to the prosecution, the party's leadership took several Tainan residents on trips to

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

in exchange for their votes.

Ideology

The stated purpose of the Taiwan People's Communist Party is to "advocate modern socialism for economic development, adhere to the

1992 Consensus The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semiofficial representatives of the People's Republic of China (PRC) of mainland China and the Republic of China (ROC) of Taiwan. They are of ...

('One China' Consensus), and promote Cross-Strait peace."

Notes

References

{{Taiwanese political parties 2017 establishments in Taiwan Political parties established in 2017 Communist parties in Taiwan Chinese nationalist political parties

History

Ideology

See also

Notes

References