Taiwan seeks to dissolve China-friendly party led by 'White Wolf'

Taipei, Taiwan – Chang An-lo, founder of the China Unity Promotion Party (CUPP), insists his mission is for peace, despite his past involvement with organized crime and suspicions of working for Beijing's influence campaign.

Known by the nickname "White Wolf," Chang leads a small political party that advocates for the "unification" of Taiwan with China. This stance is not supported by the majority of Taiwan's people, even though the island has deep historical and cultural ties with mainland China.

Taiwan, a democracy of about 23 million people, has been governed separately from mainland China for over a century, initially as a Japanese colony, then as the "Republic of China" – the government that fled to the island in the late 1940s after the Chinese civil war. Polls show that most Taiwanese want to maintain the status quo of de facto independence, while Beijing considers the island a province to be unified, by force if necessary.

Chang accuses Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te of deliberately provoking Beijing by pushing for independence. He also hopes to convince people they need not sacrifice themselves as "cannon fodder" in the event of a war. In an interview at the party's headquarters, he said: "If we don't pursue independence, there will be no war. But if we push for independence, betray Taiwan and cause conflict, we will stand up at the front line. We refuse to be cannon fodder."

Chang also claimed to have negotiated with Chinese authorities to designate some Taoist temples in Taiwan as shelters for civilians during a conflict. He often wears a vest emblazoned with text calling on Taiwan's military to "stand up at the front line."

Critics say Chang's statements are not only offensive but could be seen as treason. Lawyer and human rights activist Lai Chung-Chiang explained: "The meaning of 'stand up at the front line, don't be cannon fodder' is not just don't resist the Chinese, but also don't be loyal to Taiwan's elected government."

Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior called CUPP a threat to "the existence of the Republic of China and the constitutional order of freedom and democracy." Last week, the ministry sent a request to the Constitutional Court to dissolve the party. The government's accusation is based on the party receiving direction from Beijing to build grassroots influence networks, recruit active and retired military officers as spies, and use Chinese money to interfere in elections. Ministry of Interior data shows that since its founding in the mid-2000s, at least 11 CUPP members have been investigated or prosecuted for violating national security, anti-infiltration, or election laws. Dozens of others have also been accused of crimes unrelated to national security, including violations of the Organized Crime Prevention Act.

Chang dismissed the criticism, saying the crime rate among party members is lower than in society at large and that any violators are expelled. When asked about working for China's United Front Work Department, he avoided a direct answer but expressed support: "For the peace and happiness of people on both sides of the strait, I fully support the United Front." He also accused the ruling Democratic Progressive Party of corruption and presented records of cases involving party officials.

CUPP has no representation in the national legislature, with only two members elected as village heads in New Taipei and Miaoli. Chang holds no elected office but said he helps people, such as assisting in bringing Taiwanese who were trafficked to Southeast Asia back home, or renegotiating debt repayment for borrowers from loan sharks. Al Jazeera could not independently verify these claims.

Many CUPP members have been investigated for ties to the Bamboo Union gang, one of Taiwan's most notorious criminal organizations. Chang, born in China, admitted to being a senior member of the gang in his youth but said he left in 1968. In the 1980s and 1990s, he spent 10 years in U.S. federal prison for drug trafficking. After being deported to Taiwan, he moved to China amid a Taiwanese government crackdown on organized crime. He returned to Taiwan in 2013 and was arrested at the airport on suspicion of violating the Organized Crime Prevention Act, but the charges were later dropped.

China accused Taiwan's government of suppressing "political dissidents" by seeking to ban the party. Chen Binhua, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said that "supporting unification and opposing separatist efforts is legitimate and legal." For his part, Taiwanese political science professor Hsing Pu-shao said dissolving CUPP is largely symbolic, as China's influence operations will continue: "Dissolving a political party does not make its people, financial resources, or local networks disappear."

Chang suggested that Hong Kong, where Beijing tightened control after mass protests in 2019, could be a model for Taiwan's "peaceful unification." He said: "I believe the best way is to sit down and talk. As early as 1978, the mainland proposed very favorable conditions for unification, saying that as long as the two sides sit down for negotiations, even the national anthem, flag, and country name could be discussed." He stressed: "Both sides represent China, and we are all Chinese."