Taiwan Report Identifies 70 Local Election Candidates in CCP-Endorsed Exchanges

The Information Operations Research Group (IORG), a Taiwan-based research organization, has identified at least 70 candidates in Taiwan’s 2026 local elections who were featured in Chinese state-media coverage of cross-strait exchanges endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

According to IORG’s Oct. 16 report, the candidates were associated with 86 events held across 17 Chinese provinces between January 2024 and September 2026, involving 114 Chinese party and government officials. The findings do not establish that every candidate traveled to China or engaged in wrongdoing.

Taipei and KMT lead the list

Drawing on 17,761 articles published by China Taiwan Net, a state-run outlet under Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, IORG matched names against Taiwanese election records and manually checked the results. Its definition of participation included in-person attendance, video appearances and congratulatory messages, making it broader than physical travel.

City and county council candidates accounted for 28 of the 70 people identified, followed by 16 village and neighborhood chiefs, 11 township representatives, 10 mayoral or county-magistrate candidates and five township or town chief candidates. Taipei had the most, with 13, followed by Miaoli County with 10 and Nantou County with eight.

By party, the Kuomintang (KMT) accounted for 36 candidates and 66 recorded event participations—not 66 distinct events. Another 28 candidates were independents, three belonged to the Labor Party, two to the New Party and one to the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). No Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates appeared in the records analyzed.

For the best of our weekly content！

You are now signed up for our newsletter

Check your email to complete sign up

IORG said elected representatives made up more than half of those identified. It suggested that multi-member local elections may encourage different political strategies from single-seat races, in which candidates must appeal to a broader electorate. That interpretation is an analysis of electoral incentives, not a finding of improper conduct.

Chung, Chen and Chiang rank highest in official contacts

IORG also ranked candidates by a weighted measure of the seniority of Chinese officials associated with the same events. Miaoli County Magistrate Chung Tung-chin placed first despite being recorded at just one event, the 17th Hubei-Wuhan Taiwan Week. Senior participants at that gathering included Su Hui, vice chairwoman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Zhang Ping, a former vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

KMT lawmaker and Kinmen magistrate candidate Chen Yu-jen ranked second under the measure, followed by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an. Chen was associated with seven events; Chiang with five, including the Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum. Lienchiang County Magistrate Wang Chung-ming was also associated with seven events, tying Chen for the highest participation count.

The report found that China Taiwan Net gave disproportionate coverage to higher-ranking officials. Ministerial-level officials were recorded attending events on 31 occasions but were mentioned 62 times in the outlet’s reports. The scoring measures documented connections through events and media coverage; it does not demonstrate that a candidate acted on Beijing’s behalf.

Proposals for oversight of China trips remain stalled

The findings have renewed scrutiny of the limited disclosure requirements for some elected Taiwanese representatives traveling to China, compared with the stricter rules that apply to central government officials. Watchout, a Taiwanese news outlet, described the gap as a regulatory “gray area.”

In separate reporting on Sept. 6, Liberty Times said KMT and TPP lawmakers had repeatedly prevented proposed national-security legislation—including measures to regulate lawmakers’ China trips—from advancing. It cited 1,226 procedural blockages involving those proposals and a further 71 involving proposed amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act, for a combined 1,297. These are counts of procedural actions concerning multiple bills, not 1,297 separate laws, and are not findings from IORG’s study.

The issue has long divided Taiwan’s parties. During a 2024 committee dispute, KMT lawmaker Liao Hsien-hsiang argued that the constitution protects freedom of travel and that security risks should be judged by conduct rather than destination. DPP lawmaker Puma Shen criticized the decision to prevent committee review, saying the opposition’s tactics had “evolved from denying discussion at the committee level to simply terminating the committee’s proceedings.”