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Isle group works for
China: source
UNITED FRONT? A tip to security agencies said
that the WCADDI had received money from China to give the impression of
cross-strait cooperation on the Diaoyutais
By Huang Tun-yen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with Staff
writer
There may be a Chinese-led attempt to cement the impression that both sides of
the Taiwan Strait are working in tandem on the issue of sovereignty over the
disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), a source said in a recent tip-off to Taiwan’s
national security agencies.
According to the source, World Chinese Alliance in Defense of the Diaoyu Islands
(世界華人保釣聯盟, WCADDI) executive director Huang Hsi-lin (黃錫麟) has made a habit of
raising funds in China prior to launching any protests related to the Diaoyutais,
which are known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
Huang, who is also the secretary-general of the Chung Hwa Baodiao Alliance,
reported to Chinese officials after each protest, the sources added.
National security officials said that Huang was planning a trip to China today
that would last eight days and that Huang’s group, numbering 36 in total, only
had to pay US$6,090 per person, suggesting someone was subsidizing their trip.
The officials added that they suspected China’s Taiwan Affairs Office was
involved in a Diaoyutai talk the group is supposed to give on its fifth day in
Beijing.
Coupled with the fact that Huang brought the Chinese national flag to the islets
during his group’s protest and that three Chinese ships appeared near the
islands during another protest earlier this year, it is evident that China is
working at bolstering the impression that both sides of the Strait are working
together on the Diaoyutais issue, the source said.
On the morning of June 4 last year, Huang and two other WCADDI members set off
for the Diaoyutais to protest against Japan’s claim and reiterate Taiwan’s
claims of sovereignty. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) mobilized three
ships to protect Huang, but although the CGA ships successfully barred the
Japanese from boarding Huang’s ship, Huang said that he forgot to bring the
Republic of China flag and instead threw the People’s Republic of China flag on
the waters around the islands in a gesture of defiance.
According to national security officials, although Huang boasted that several
Chinese netizens had donated a total of 150,000 yuan (US$24,100) in three days
after they had heard of his protests, the information provided by the source and
from other data showed that some of the donations had come from official Chinese
channels.
At the end of January, Huang embarked on another protest about the islands with
the blessing of the CGA, which mobilized four ships to protect him.
The ships encountered eight Japanese ships and three Chinese ships, which
prompted the CGA ships to both maneuver against the Japanese ships while asking
the Chinese ships to leave the territorial waters of the Republic of China to
prevent the assumption that both sides of the Strait were collaborating on the
issue.
The “chance” appearance of Chinese ships the moment CGA ships and protesters
arrived around the Diaoyutais was “too coincidental,” national security
officials said, adding that it was hard not to suspect some sort of Chinese
attempt to forge the impression of both sides of the Strait working together on
the issue.
In response, Huang said that the source was fabricated and that he was innocent
of all the insinuations made against him.
Huang said that a friend in China had invited him to China in June last year,
adding that he was unable to make good on the journey until this month due to
unforeseen delays.
“I am only visiting Tianjin City, Chengde City and Shanhai Pass in Hebei
Province,” Huang said, adding that his travel plans were purely for pleasure and
he had no plans for talks in Beijing.
“At most, I’ll be visiting a few other groups and eating dinners with some
Taiwanese businesspeople,” Huang said, asking others not to read too much into
his plans and not to believe rumors.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chia-chun
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