Taiwan’s authorities have detained one person for “fabricating” opinion polls, which prosecutors said Saturday were intended to influence next year’s elections.

Democratic Taiwan will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in January, which will be closely watched from Beijing to Washington as results could shape future relations with China.

Taiwan’s officials have repeatedly warned of instances of election interference linked to China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.

In Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung, prosecutors questioned four people on Friday for allegedly spreading “fabricated presidential polls” through various news outlets and social media platforms.

Citing bank account transactions as evidence, they detained Hsu, a man identified only by his family name, “for violating election and anti-infiltration laws”.

The candidates and parties that the fabricated opinion polls favoured were not identified.

Prosecutors also said Hsu was a chief consultant of a “new residents” association, a community organisation for newcomers to Taiwan.

The association was accused by prosecutors earlier this month of arranging free trips to China for dozens of voters in a bid to “influence” elections.

“They aimed to use Taiwan’s large new resident population to develop organisations that could be controlled by these hostile foreign powers… to influence the current election, thereby endangering national security,” prosecutors said Saturday.

Last month, Premier Chen Chien-jen warned the Taiwanese public to “be mindful of the methods used in election interference” and not to “fall into China’s trap”.

Relations have plunged in recent years as China has stepped up pressure on self-ruled Taiwan, sending in near-daily incursions of warplanes and naval vessels, while trying to isolate the island internationally by poaching its diplomatic allies. (AFP)

•Supporters attend a Kuomintang (KMT) campaign rally ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election in Taipei on December 23, 2023. (Photo by I-Hwa CHENG / AFP)

Update news