Taiwanese prosecutors indicted 5 men for attacking a Taiwanese comedian allegedly under orders from a person in China.
The Taiwanese government condemned this latest suspected incident of transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The New Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted five Taiwanese men on Oct. 21 for the September car attack on well-known Taiwanese comedian Huang Yi-hao, who mocked CCP leader Xi Jinping.
Prosecutors said the plot was paid for by a person in mainland China, known only as “K,” to stop Huang from performing.
Last December, Huang, 44, uploaded a short video to social media that went viral, in which he satirized Xi’s constitutional amendments to rule indefinitely and his attainment of a doctorate despite having only a primary school education.
The New Taipei District Prosecutors Office’s investigation alleged that K offered a payment of NT450,000 ($13,890) to Zheng Bo-xuan to gather Huang’s personal information and inflict severe injuries upon him—an act that left Huang hospitalized and unable to perform at Taipei’s Comedy Club on Sept. 20.
From July to August, Zheng allegedly attached a GPS tracker to Huang’s motorcycle and monitored his movements.
Zheng learned Huang’s home address, license plate number, and daily routines before allegedly sending the information to K and receiving NT$250,000 (about $7,722), according to the prosecutor’s office.
Then, Zheng allegedly worked with a man named You Wei-jie to stage a traffic accident intended to break Huang Yihao’s arms or legs to prevent him from performing on stage on Sept. 20.
Prosecutors said You recruited Huang Chia-ching, who brought in Fan Chung-hao and Liao Pen-cheng to carry out the attack.
On Sept. 11, the three men waited near the comedian’s home in New Taipei, authorities said. Fan alerted the driver, Huang Chia-ching, when the comedian returned, to ram him with the vehicle, while Liao filmed from the passenger seat as proof that the job was done and to collect payment.
Prosecutors said the driver stopped after hearing the comedian scream in pain. Huang Yi-hao suffered bruising to his right pelvis but escaped serious injury.
After the attack, three suspects allegedly obtained the comedian’s medical records by claiming they were helping with an insurance claim.
They sent images of the records to K, who refused to pay the remaining NT$200,000 because the injuries were not serious enough, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors charged all five men with attempted serious bodily injury and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act.
Zheng also faces a charge of unlawfully recording another person’s private activities.
In the indictment, the prosecutors condemned the five individuals for “betraying the nation’s democratic defense line and violating human rights,” and asked that the court impose prison sentences ranging from two years and seven months to five years and six months.
New Taipei prosecutors described the latest attack as another suspected case of the Chinese regime’s transnational repression of critics.
They warned that such violence threatened public safety and freedom of expression.
“For spending just two-and-a-half minutes criticizing Xi Jinping on a stage in Taiwan, I was subjected to having feces thrown at me and, subsequently, being deliberately rammed by a car,” Huang Yi-hao wrote on Facebook after the indictment.
“If the CCP does not yet rule Taiwan and people are already being treated like this for criticizing it, how can we expect to keep the freedom of speech we have now if one day the CCP really does rule Taiwan?”
The case followed an attack in May, when Huang was scheduled to perform at Taipei’s Comedy Club with his Xi Jinping routine.
Taipei prosecutors at the time indicted two men for allegedly throwing paint and feces at the venue under instructions from the CCP.
Around 55,000 Taiwanese attend a rally to support mass recalls against legislators believed to have links to communist China, in Taipei, on April 19, 2025. Sun Xiangyi/The Epoch Times
Condemning Violent Transnational Repression
In response to this high-profile case of a suspected contract attack orchestrated from mainland China, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued a stern condemnation of the CCP for its use of violent transnational repression against the people of Taiwan.
The MAC pointed out that the CCP not only remains intolerant of dissenting opinions within its own borders but has also extended its reach to suppress freedom of speech in Taiwan, thereby posing a grave challenge to Taiwan’s democratic and legal order.
“Anyone who, acting upon the instructions, commissions, or inducements of the CCP or its associates, participates in or assists with transnational repression will be held accountable under the law and pursued to the fullest extent—there will be absolutely no leniency,” MAC warned in the statement.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs also issued a statement on Facebook, sternly condemning the thuggish behavior of the CCP.
The DPP warned the Beijing authorities to cease all forms of transnational repression and malicious acts that threaten the people of Taiwan. It said that their safety and freedom of speech must never be infringed upon by foreign entities.
Gao Hui contributed to this report.
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