Taiwan is probing organised crime's links to Chinese efforts to carry out "transnational repression", National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told reporters at parliament on Thursday, Reuters reported. The comments came after Taiwan's government said Beijing was behind an attack on a comedian who mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Source: Reuters via DevDiscourse

Tsai said the local networks that cooperate in incidents like the comedian attack are mostly criminal gangs, or private investigation firms linked to organised crime. "The National Security Bureau is more concerned with whether anyone behind them has been directed and funded by the Chinese Communist Party. How to dismantle the entire criminal group and network is a key focus for us," he said, according to Reuters.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported, and it has not responded to previous questions on the assault on the comedian. China views Taiwan as its own territory, a claim the island's government rejects.

Five indicted over staged car attack

On Wednesday, Taiwanese prosecutors in New Taipei indicted five people for plotting to run over comedian Huang Yi-hao with a car, Reuters reported. Prosecutors said a Chinese individual, identified only as "K", paid another man to make sure Huang was seriously injured; the defendants were allegedly paid to fake a car accident and "break the arms and legs" of Huang so he could not perform, but he was only lightly injured, the prosecutors' statement said.

Huang said in a statement on his Facebook page that he had only mentioned Xi very briefly. "If people are already treated this way for criticising the Chinese Communist Party before it rules Taiwan, how can we expect to keep our current freedom of speech if the Communist Party ever does rule Taiwan?" he added, according to Reuters.

Maritime pressure and a legal gap

Tsai also pointed to stepped-up Chinese pressure in the waters around Taiwan, where China's military and coast guard operate daily, Reuters reported. He said Chinese coast guard "law enforcement" patrols to the east of Taiwan, begun in June, are becoming more routine, often alongside Chinese research vessels, and he expressed particular concern about Chinese militia boats appearing to Taiwan's east and southwest. China has repeatedly said its operations off Taiwan's east coast are "legitimate and lawful", a position Taipei's government strongly rejects.

Tsai said Taiwan might need to amend its laws to better deal with such activities. "Comprehensively curbing the Chinese communists' transnational repression in Taiwan's democratic and rule-of-law society is also very important, and the legal framework for it has been lacking," he said, according to Reuters.