TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reportedly offered US$400 per person to 1,000 pro-China group members and gangsters to disrupt President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) historic meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
As the CCP deemed its mobilization of Chinese nationals to harass Tsai during her arrival in New York last week to be ineffective, the Chinese consulate general in New York, called on its counterpart in Los Angeles to interfere with the Taiwan president's meeting with McCarthy slated for Wednesday (April 5) in the Reagan Library, reported Liberty Times. The Chinese consulate general in Los Angeles then reportedly mobilized more than 1,000 people from Chinese expatriate groups and gangs with a "subsidy" of US$400 each to go to the Reagan Library and cause a disruption.
The newspaper cited sources from Taiwanese and U.S. intelligence agencies as saying that in order to achieve its goal of marring Tsai's meeting with McCarthy, Deputy Consul General Li Chunlin (李春林) of the Los Angeles consulate personally planned the operation. Li reportedly invited "a number of overseas Chinese groups, cadres from the California chapter of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, and pro-China gang members in the Greater Los Angeles area," to discuss the mobilization of protestors.
It was decided at the meeting that the compensation would be distributed after the event. The average "subsidy" was US$400 for transportation and food and beverages, and other related expenses would be paid to each participant.
The group was expected to gather at the Hyatt Regency in Los Angeles at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Li was allegedly expecting at least 1,000 people.
A Taiwanese intelligence agency source said the event was being actively monitored. This was due to the complex composition of the Chinese community in California, and the groups mobilized this time include the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, one of whose members committed a mass shooting at a Taiwanese church in Southern California last year.
Twitter user Teacher Li is not Your Teacher (李老師不是你老師), a key figure who promoted the White Paper Revolution, posted screenshots from a WeChat group that allegedly calls on members to take part in a protest against Tsai for the US$400 fee. The top message reads: "Tomorrow at 11 a.m., there will be a bus to pick up protesters against Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the U.S. at San Gabriel Square. The payment is US$400."
Some members of the group left sarcastic comments such as, "If the payment is less we will welcome Kevin Tsai to visit the U.S", "If there is less money, we will defect," and, "My party will give US$400 each, but after commission fees are deducted, it won't even amount to US$200." Another group member wrote, "Doing this kind of thing is voluntary, there should not be any need to buy it with money."
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此前,在洛杉矶一微信群里有人招募抗议示威者 pic.twitter.com/nqKliUQfxS
— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) April 5, 2023