J. Michael Cole
J. Michael Cole is a senior non-resident fellow with the University of Nottingham’s China Policy Institute and an associate researcher with the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC).
What you need to know
Tung Nien-tai is known to seek publicity and may be mentally unstable. Police have been alerted.
A former convict and debt collector yesterday called on people to combat Taiwanese independence by throwing petrol bombs at the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters.
Tung Nien-tai (董念台) made the call in a Facebook post on Wednesday, inviting hundreds of “anti-independence heroes” to take part in a “100 person surrender” event during which they would throw Molotov cocktails at the DPP building to “formally declare war” on Taiwanese independence.
Calling President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) judicial reform a scam, Tung said the DPP had “different purposes in mind,” adding that the attack was to remind the DPP government not to toy with justice
Tung said that as such actions could land people in jail and people with legitimate jobs should refrain from participating, but should show their support by sharing his post.
The event, which was scheduled for today, appears to have been postponed, and police authorities have been contacted. Nevertheless, it is feared that such public calls may inspire unhinged individuals or pro-unification radicals to take unlawful action.
Besides being seen in the company of pro-unification underworld figures-turned-politicians like Chang An-le (張安樂) in recent years, Tung has also been a fierce opponent of pro-democracy groups such as Citizen 1985, which mobilized in 2013 to call for reform in the military court system after the death of an army conscript. Tung also held a protest outside the Ministry of Justice in 2015 threatening to instigate prison riots if former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), imprisoned on corruption charges, was released on medical parole. Tung’s protest coincided with an attempted prison break in Kaohsiung, in which Chang, also known as “White Wolf,” attempted to play a role as mediator. Six inmates killed themselves in the 14-hour standoff, during which prison staff were held hostage.
Chang and various pro-unification groups have held a number of peaceful protests outside DPP headquarters in the past year.
The former debt collector is known in Taiwan as an “unofficial spokesman” for the underworld and for his efforts to help gangsters re-integrate society.
Tung may be mentally unstable, once said that former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was the “woman of his dreams” and organized a 24-car motorcade to take him to her residence, where he intended to propose to her.
Editor: Olivia Yang
