Beijing may be escalating pressure on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen by targeting his family’s business interests and publicly criticizing a prominent entertainer who attended a campaign event, according to an Oct. 20 report by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The researchers said the measures could be intended to influence Taipei’s Nov. 28 mayoral election and discourage others from openly supporting Taiwan’s sovereignty. They assessed that China was “likely targeting family members of ‘separatists’” to pressure the politicians and deter like-minded Taiwanese.
Sanctions reach Puma Shen’s family
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office announced sanctions on Oct. 14 against VWAY, a company owned by Shen Tu-cheng, the candidate’s father. The measures prohibit Chinese organizations, businesses and individuals from trading or cooperating with the company.
The office alleged that Shen Tu-cheng used VWAY to keep trading with Chinese companies after Beijing sanctioned another of his businesses, Sicuens International Co., in June 2025. The office separately accused Puma Shen of “inciting anti-China sentiment” while his family sought to “profit from the mainland.”
The announcement came a day after the pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao published allegations about the family’s commercial activities. AEI and ISW cited that sequence as part of the evidence informing their assessment of possible election interference.
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Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council condemned the move as “clearly a malicious attempt to coerce Taiwanese society and interfere in our democratic elections.” The council said Beijing was using media allegations and economic pressure to target political candidates.
Shen rejected the allegations, saying his family’s operations in Ecuador had been misrepresented as business in China. The researchers said Beijing added him to a list of people it labels “diehard separatists” in October 2024.
The list exposes named individuals to potential punishment under China’s anti-secession framework. Beijing’s 2024 legal guidance allows people accused of separatism to be tried in absentia and includes severe penalties, according to the AEI-ISW report.
Campaign supporters face public criticism
Pressure has also reached people associated with Shen’s campaign. The Chinese military-affiliated social media account Jun Zhengping and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office criticized television host Kevin Tsai Kang-yung for attending the Oct. 4 opening of Shen’s campaign headquarters.
Chinese messaging branded supporters of “Taiwan independence” as “betrayers of the Chinese nation” and warned there was “no room for ambiguity” on the issue. The researchers said public criticism of Tsai could discourage other entertainers and political figures from appearing alongside Shen.
On Oct. 25, Tsai publicly distanced himself from the independence movement. “I have always hoped for friendly cross-strait relations. I have never supported Taiwan independence,” he wrote. Tsai said he attended political events to conduct interviews and gather material, not to endorse candidates.
Pressure on relatives and an approaching election
The AEI-ISW report described similar measures affecting other Taiwanese political figures’ relatives. It cited the dismissal in April of a nephew of Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang from a Taiwan-funded company in China following a Chinese investigation.
The report also cited China’s decision to deny entry to the brother of United Microelectronics Corp. founder Robert Tsao, who has supported Kuma Academy. Separately, U.S. authorities arrested a Chinese national in October on allegations she surveilled President Lai Ching-te’s son in California. Those allegations have not been established in court.
The mayoral contest has shifted since the think tanks compiled their report. A September survey by the Taipei Trust in Democracy Association put incumbent Kuomintang (KMT) Mayor Chiang Wan-an 1.2 percentage points ahead of Shen. An Oct. 20 poll by the same group put Shen at 50.3 percent and Chiang at 33.3 percent. Other polling has shown a closer race, so the result is not a forecast of the Nov. 28 vote.
On Oct. 26, Shen said Tsai and other Taiwanese citizens should be free to attend political events without interference from Beijing. He said “the fact that China would intervene in this way is deeply distressing.” Chiang also rejected intimidation over political affiliations, declaring: “I absolutely will not permit or accept such anti-democratic intimidation.”
The report assessed Beijing’s possible aims without establishing whether the campaign had changed voters’ preferences. AEI and ISW assessed that the public targeting of Shen and Tsai “could dissuade Taiwanese public figures from associating with Shen or his views,” even if it does not force Shen out of the race.
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