雖然包括旺旺等事實已屬公認，但親身證實可提高環球反共滲透。
Kidnapping the bookseller scarred Wang. He realised that “China could do whatever they wanted. So I felt quite scared in Hong Kong."
Wang tells a different story. The reason for the kidnapping, he says, was that the bookshop was selling works that displeased the CCP, including a book called Xi and his Six Women.
Adding to his fear were the alliances between members of his organisation and the triads – Chinese mafia organisations “who also represent the Chinese government”.
“In Taiwan we had many places - restaurants, and IT companies - which we either acquired or funded,” Wang says. “If we wanted to attack someone, we could instantly collapse their Facebook” from Hong Kong, using false IP addresses to put out anti-democracy messages.
Wang says CIIL also invested in Taiwanese media companies and built covert alliances with TV stations, allowing the control and censorship of news. He names food manufacturer and media owner the Want Want group as a key ally.
Both his family and his wife’s have a strong Communist Party pedigree – all are party members and loyal to the country. “I really have no idea what this will bring to the rest of my life,” he says.
“We also controlled media, like buying their ads to propagate the trend, and let them report in favour of those candidates we were supporting,” says Wang. Want Want’s owner Tsai Eng-meng has had “a very close relationship and cooperation with Xiang Xin,” Wang says. A Financial Times article in August accusing Want Want of taking editorial direction from Beijing was dismissed by the company as “fake news”.
Part of Wang’s interference would rely on what he calls “Taiwan’s black society”, or the triads. But Wang feared being caught by Taiwan’s counter-espionage authorities. Out of hours, he painted furiously and plotted his escape.
