How China Gained a Foothold in Eastern Taiwan

On May 23, the Bluebird Movement drew over 100,000 participants to a rally outside Taiwan's Legislative Yuan. The demonstrators were protesting against a series of disputed “parliamentary reform bills” proposed – and eventually passed – by the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP).

The protesters specifically targeted two figures: Huang Kuo-chang, the TPP's caucus whip and a former key figure in the Sunflower Movement who has since aligned with the KMT, and Fu Kun-chi, the KMT's caucus whip. From the perspective of local policies shaping Taiwan’s dependency on China, Fu is the more important figure.

Fu, a major political player in Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast, has been perceived as a significant proxy for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Taiwan. He served two terms as a Hualien County legislator, elected first as an independent, and then as a member of the KMT. Even after being expelled from the KMT, he successfully ran for Hualien County magistrate and held the position for eight consecutive years.

Although he was found guilty on charges of stock manipulation in 2008 and disqualified from holding civic office (a restriction eventually overturned by the Supreme Court), his influence in Hualien remained strong. During his imprisonment, which began in 2018 after a lengthy appeals process ran its course, he supported his wife, Hsu Chen-wei, in successfully running for county magistrate. She won re-election in 2022.

Together, Fu and Hsu have dominated Hualien's political landscape for over 14 years, making them one of Taiwan's most enduring political families of this century.

After his release from prison in 2019, Fu was reinstated in the KMT and re-elected as a legislator in 2020. He became a core figure within the party. This January, after the KMT regained its position as the largest party in the Legislative Yuan, Fu took on the role of KMT’s caucus whip.

In April 2024, he led 16 other KMT legislators on a trip to China to meet with Xi Jinping’s key advisors, including Wang Huning, the chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The trip stirred controversy not only due to the cross-strait implications, but because of its timing: Hualien experienced its most severe earthquake in 25 years this April, causing significant damage. By carrying on with the trip, Fu was accused of prioritizing ties with Beijing over the reconstruction and recovery efforts in Hualien.

Fu’s dominance in the central political landscape, coupled with his ties to Beijing, have raised questions about China’s influence on Taiwan’s eastern region.