Taiwan’s legislature is weighing amendments to an anti-infiltration law that would impose a minimum one-year prison term on Beijing-linked influence and infiltration activities, while critics have raised concerns about tighter social controls.
The proposed changes to the Anti-Infiltration Act, under review by the legislature’s Interior Affairs Committee on Monday, come six years after the law took effect.
They also come amid growing concerns within the government that prosecutions have resulted in disproportionately light sentences despite the heavy investigative burden involved in security cases.
Beijing has repeatedly denied the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s accusations that it has infiltrated the island. It has accused Taipei of intimidating ordinary Taiwanese people and undermining cross-strait exchanges with the measures.
According to official statistics, prosecutors have indicted 127 people under the law since it was enacted in 2020.
Only five have received final guilty verdicts. Average sentences have ranged from three to six months – outcomes that blunt the law’s deterrent effect, according to DPP lawmakers.
Lawmaker Wang Ting-yu, one of 20 sponsors of the amendment, said investigations into infiltration cases were typically cross-border and covert. As a result, they require far more manpower and resources than ordinary criminal cases.
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