China said to be luring Taiwanese politicians with cheap trips before polls

Beijing has sponsored cutprice trips to China for hundreds of Taiwanese politicians ahead of key elections on the island, according to Taiwan sources and documents, unnerving officials with a broad campaign that one called "election interference".

President Tsai Ing-wen and other Taiwan officials have warned that China might try to sway voters towards candidates seeking closer ties with Beijing in the elections, which could define the island's relations with China. But the scale of the Chinese activity has not previously been reported.

Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has ramped up military and political pressure to force the island to accept its sovereignty, frames the 

Jan 13, 2024 presidential and legislative elections as a choice between peace and war, calling the ruling party dangerous separatists and urging Taiwanese to make the "right choice".

Taiwanese law forbids election campaigns from receiving money from "external hostile forces", including China, and prosecutors in southern Taiwan this week said they were investigating 22 people, including grassroots politicians, for potential violations of election and security laws.

Across Taiwan, security agencies are examining more than 400 visits to China in the past month, most led by local opinion leaders such as borough chiefs and village heads, a Taiwan security official looking into China's activities said.

The agencies believe the trips, with discounted accommodation, transport and meals, were subsidised by units under China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the source, who requested anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the matter.