Taiwan's government is building a case against the Pro-Beijing Chinese Unification Promotion Party. The interior ministry says the party is a danger to the country's freedom and democracy and is asking the Constitutional Court to rule on disbanding it.
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00:00A French pro-China political party could be disbanded if the government has its way.
00:05It says the Chinese Unification Promotion Party interferes in the elections here and
00:09is a threat to democracy.
00:11Rick Lowatt is following the story for us and joined us live from Taipei.
00:15Rick, a threat to democracy the government says.
00:18What else is the party accused of?
00:21Well, Taiwan's Interior Ministry accuses the Chinese Unification Promotion Party of violating
00:29national security laws and election interference laws.
00:32It also says that its members are involved in criminal activity from gang violence and
00:37robbery to human trafficking and even murder.
00:40Significantly, it says that the party took two million US dollars in cash from Beijing
00:46to push China's narrative that it claims sovereignty over Taiwan and that it disrupted the presidential
00:53elections earlier this year.
00:56Taiwan's government now asking the nation's top court to rule on whether this warrants
01:00the group being disbanded.
01:02They say it's a threat to democracy.
01:05And if they're successful, it will be the first time that a political party has been
01:09disbanded in Taiwan at the request of the Interior Ministry.
01:15What would the disbanding of this political party mean for politics in Taiwan?
01:22Well, how to deal with China is the political issue here.
01:26It's that which defines the differences between the political parties here rather than traditional
01:32left-right values.
01:34The ruling Democratic Progressive Party or the DPP, they prefer to keep Beijing at arm's
01:38length whilst the main opposition parties, they want a closer relationship across the
01:43strait.
01:44And, of course, the CPP is arguing that they have the right to promote whichever political
01:50thought or values they have, but if, as the government says, they are found to be doing
01:55it illegally, they're going to have to defend that in court.