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Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, Will. Hello everyone. I’m glad to see you here again today.
W: What are we going to be talking about today?
G: Yeah, today we’ll talk about the new story. Maybe some of our listeners, they know the news, you know; Taiwan now has 3 big parties. Kuomintang before controlled the power in mainland China, almost 80 years ago.
W: Okay.
G: And later the Communist Party exiled them to Taiwan. Now, you know, Minjindang controls the power in Taiwan. The president comes from Minjindang. Now the Kuomintang chairman, her name is Liwen Zheng, L-I-W-E-N-Z-H-E-N-G. And before, Zheng Liwen belonged to Minjindang. Later, she changed the parties to Kuomintang.
W: Okay.
G: And now she is Kuomintang’s chairman. And because maybe Kuomintang thinks [it’s] very difficult to use the election system to get power back. So Zheng Liwen tried to make a good relationship with CCP. So in April 2026, the CCP invited her to visit Beijing.
W: Okay.
G: And she so wanted to meet Xi Jinping. Of course, you know, she went to mainland China and visited Nanjing City.
W: Okay.
G: Nanjing City was the capital 80 years ago when Kuomintang controlled mainland China.
W: Gotcha.
G: Yeah, she gave a speech there and said some good words to [the] CCP, and criticized Taiwan’s government, and criticized Japan, like that.
W: Wow.
G: Of course, later, you know, she visited Beijing and met Xi Jinping. And looks like she’s happy. Yeah. But very clearly, she has embraced dictators, authoritarianism.
W: Guangcheng, how popular is her party right now? Is the Kuomintang Party, is it, like, big, is it small? Is it a bigger party, smaller party?
G: Big party in Taiwan. Before, they controlled power, you know, until 1996.
W: Gotcha.
G: And then, you know, Minjindang controlled power. And later, Kuomintang gets the power back. And 18 years later, Minjindang gets it back. So now Minjindang still controls power in Taiwan.
W: So Guangcheng, is she popular in Taiwan?
G: Yeah, I think, yeah. She is the Kuomintang’s chairman, of course. All the people know her, I think. Yeah.
W: Right. And they like her?
G: Some people like [her], some people not. And I think now [that] she has embraced dictators, the CCP, I think more and more people will dislike her.
W: When was her trip to China?
G: April.
W: In April. Okay, gotcha. Now, Guangcheng, we mentioned at the beginning that this pertains to the United States. Can you explain what’s going on now, or as of recording this?
G: Yeah. She recently visited the United States and expected government officials to meet her because she is the party chairman.
W: Okay.
G: Yes. But because she has embraced dictators, the officials in White House refused to meet her. And just a few congressmen met her.
W: Okay.
G: And she gave a speech in New York.
W: Okay.
G: And some people went there to protest her because she always says, “The Communist Party is not so bad, blah, blah, blah,” like that.
W: Yeah, yeah.
G: So… and then later, you know, she visited Los Angeles.
W: Okay.
G: And the organization, Western Chinese Association, invited her to give a speech in Los Angeles.
W: Okay.
G: Some activists came there to protest her.
W: Okay.
G: And some activists got permission to come in to listen to her speech. And when she started the Q&A, some activists stood up to ask some questions about her relationship with the CCP. Of course, she thinks that question is sensitive and she didn’t answer. And there were some thugs there.
W: Okay.
G: And the thugs beat the questioner. So the questioner fell to the ground and the thugs covered his mouth and beat him and kicked his head. And sent him to the hospital. And the thugs [were] grabbing the questioner’s cell phone, and threatened them, and grabbed their neck, and asked them to delete the picture and videos. So of course, the people, the protesters and the questioners, they reported to the FBI and called 911 and asked, “Please, arrest the thugs who used violence,” right?
So that is the big problem. This is the US, and that is very clearly, you know, the thugs look like [the] CCP’s agents. You know, she come here to give a speech to say dictatorship is not so bad, and the CCP supports her here. And maybe our listeners don’t understand why the CCP is so scared of Taiwan’s democracy system, the rule of law, right?
W: Yeah, yeah.
G: This is because the CCP always sayss democracy system, the rule of law, constitutional system of government is not good for Chinese people. Of course, that is not true. The democracy system is very good in Taiwan. They can use the reelection system to change the government.
That is why the CCP is so scared. [The] CCP spent a lot of money and people to try to infiltrate Taiwan. And I think because a lot of people don’t like Kuomintang’s policy, so maybe Kuomintang think [it’s] very difficult to use [the] election system to get power back. And the CCP needs someone to do some propaganda in Taiwan. So I’m afraid the CCP could be using members of the Kuomintang Party to spread the propaganda.
So that is very dangerous.
W: So, Guangcheng, do you know when the next elections will take place in Taiwan?
G: 2028.
W: Okay, so it’s still a couple of years.
G: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kuomintang’s leader, Zheng Liwen, always says, “Oh, we have to only use peace to resolve the problem between democracy and Taiwan.” But you know, the CCP never says, “I will not use violence.”
W: Yeah.
G: Right? Yeah. And the CCP never obeys the constitution. And the CCP never follow what they promise. Look at Hong Kong. If you believe the Communist Party, Taiwan will become Hong Kong. So I think this is very important to understand. First, Kuomintang tried to work with the CCP. Another thing is CCP’s agent system in the US is very strong.
Yeah, we should think [about] how to prevent [the] CCP [from doing bad things in the US.
W: Yeah, well, we’ll continue reporting on this, though hopefully there’ll be a day where we don’t have to, where our government will be strict enough against these thugs operating in the United States, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yes, yes.
W: Well, we encourage you to check out our website at humanrights.catholic.edu. Guangcheng, thanks so much for all this information today, as always.
G: Thank you. WIll, thank you everyone.
The Center for Human Rights has published countless articles and reports on issues facing China, the U.S., and the world. Reports from late 2022 revealed the existence of secret Chinese police stations operating around the world, including in the United States, raising serious concerns about foreign intimidation. A detailed analysis from the Center for Human Rights examines documented cases in Europe and the U.S. and reviews the legal frameworks that could help address this growing challenge. To read this report, go to our Research and Analysis page on humanrights.catholic.edu.