KMT’s Hsu Kung-fan Faces Scrutiny Over Repeated China Visits and Praise on Sichuan United Front Website

Hsu Kung-fan, a Miaoli County councilor from Taiwan's Kuomintang, has registered as a candidate for mayor of Toufen and is facing scrutiny over repeated trips to China that were linked to Chinese United Front agencies.

Hsu is running for mayor of Toufen, Miaoli's largest population center, against county councilor Tseng Wen-hsueh, an independent candidate backed by the Democratic Progressive Party. The controversy emerged soon after Hsu registered his candidacy.

Records cited in the report show that Hsu led an 18-member delegation to Leshan, Sichuan, in April 2023, when he was head of the Kuomintang's Toufen branch. The director of Leshan's Taiwan Affairs Office accompanied the group throughout the visit. In July that year, he led a delegation of as many as 50 grassroots representatives from Miaoli to Wuhan and Yichang in Hubei.

In April 2024, Hsu led a delegation to Shenyang, Liaoning, as a grassroots youth representative. The Shenyang Taiwan Affairs Office disclosed details of that trip. In July, he visited Liuyang in Hunan as chairman of the Kuomintang's Miaoli County branch, with the Changsha Municipal United Front Work Department and the city's Taiwan Affairs Office among the host organizations.

The report said Hsu's Leshan trip was published on the official Sichuan United Front website under a section on United Front work in different areas. That publication intensified criticism that the visits were not simply private or cultural exchanges, but had been incorporated into China's United Front performance and Taiwan-related work. Online comments included calls for investigation and criticism of Hsu's China contacts.