Beijing recruiting criminal groups to weaken Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party has recruited the Bamboo Union to promote unification with the People's Republic. Chang An-lo and other key figures have been exploited to boost China’s political influence on the island through intelligence gathering and psychological operations. Meanwhile, Taiwan is cracking down on a pro-Beijing party and prosecuting its members.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increasingly co-opted Taiwanese organized crime groups, particularly the Bamboo Union, using them to promote unification with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and undermine Taiwan's democratic institutions.
Through figures like Chang An-lo and affiliated groups like the Chinese Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), criminal networks are exploited for political influence, intelligence gathering, and psychological operations. They often do so with the support or under the direction of China’s intelligence and propaganda agencies.
Taiwan has responded intensifying its crackdown on pro-China gangs and influence networks, including efforts to disband the CUPP and prosecute members linked to espionage, recognizing the hybrid threat posed by political-criminal co-operation.
We publish here extensive excerpts from an article courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.
In late August 2025, YouTube–based Taiwanese TV channel Formosa TV Thumbs Up posted a segment on “fifth column” activities in Taiwan. The program interviewed a range of experts, as well as Chang An-lo, a man also known as “White Wolf”. Chang is a long-time member of the Bamboo Union, a prominent Taiwan-based criminal organization. He is also the founder of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), a Chinese nationalist political party with little public support but a claimed membership of around 30,000 people. The CUPP openly advocates peaceful reunification with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under the “one country, two systems” framework (Facebook/CUPP, accessed June 7). In the interview, Chang denied he was part of any “fifth column” but, sitting in his office in front of the flag of the PRC, he argued in favor of “embracing” the PRC, saying that he wanted to “act as a bridge for cross-strait peace” (YouTube/Formosa TV Thumbs Up, August 25).
For years, the CCP has incorporated Taiwan’s triads—Chinese secret societies that have evolved into resilient criminal enterprises—into its united front work, using them to mobilize grassroots support for unification. This complements broader efforts, including cultural outreach through social media influencers, intelligence-driven infiltration of Taiwan’s military, and leaning on Hongmen (mutual aid associations from which triads historically emerged) to disseminate patriotic messaging aligned with CCP priorities (China Brief, January 13, May 9, June 7). Together, these activities aim to manufacture the appearance of widespread societal support within Taiwan for unification with the PRC. Although little research currently traces the links between the united front system and organizations such as the Bamboo Union, its role and influence in Taiwanese domestic politics make it worthy of study to better understand the ties it has with the CCP.
Bamboo Union’s Connections to Taiwanese Politics
Allegations that link PRC united front organizations and Taiwanese criminal gangs have persisted for years. In 2017, former Taiwanese President Lee Teng Hui warned that the PRC had expanded its united front tactics by recruiting pro-unification supporters and sponsoring organized crime in Taiwan to stir ethnic tensions and destabilize society (Taipei Times, October 5, 2017). More recently, Taiwanese triads have sought to undermine President Lai Ching-te and apply internal pressure on his administration in pursuit of a pro-unification agenda. Lai has publicly noted these efforts, citing recruitment from gangs in a list of CCP’s efforts “to divide, destroy, and subvert us from within” during a national security address in March (Office of the President of the Republic of China, Taiwan, March 13).
The Bamboo Union gang, also referred to as the United Bamboo or Chuk Luen Bong, is perhaps the best example of a Taiwanese criminal gang that Beijing has coopted as part of the united front system. Established in Taiwan in 1957, it was initially comprised of the children of Mainland Chinese refugees fleeing the communist takeover in 1949 (Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank, accessed September 4).
In the decades since, the Bamboo Union has developed relationships with other organized crime groups, including the Wah Ching in the United States, Yakuza groups in Japan, and several triad societies in Hong Kong.
Today, it maintains a broad presence across Taiwan, with an estimated membership of at least 10,000 and an extensive criminal portfolio. In August 2025, Taipei prosecutors indicted 18 members of a criminal ring affiliated with the Bamboo Union for alleged financial fraud and cryptocurrency schemes affecting more than 200 people. According to the indictment, the scheme allegedly had made illegal profits of more than NTD 770 million ( million) in fraud schemes since May 2024 (Taipei Times, August 21).
The Bamboo Union’s ties to Taiwanese lawmakers today appear to remain strong. After the organization’s former leader Huang Shaocen passed away in February 2025, a large funeral was organized.
One of the contenders to succeed Huang as leader, Liu Zhennan, is also well connected, having been hired as deputy head of an advisory group (for Hou You-ih’s) successful mayoral campaign for New Taipei City (Liberty Times, October 4, 2018; Yahoo/Sanlih News, February 4). (Hou was also the KMT’s presidential nominee in 2024.)
Chang An-lo Ties Bamboo Union and CUPP to the CCP
The restaurant booking for Bamboo Union members was made by Chang An-lo, indicating his continued role as a power broker within both the gang and perhaps even political circles. Chang’s long history and ties to elites in both the PRC and Taiwan has made him an ideal vector of influence for the CCP.
Chang’s acceptance among CCP elites is likely related to his espousal of the Party’s views on the political status of Taiwan, which have also been reflected in the stance of prominent Bamboo Union members for decades. A Phoenix TV report from May 2011 that interviewed Chang recalls a former Bamboo Union leader (and a lifelong friend of Chang’s) saying in 1981 that he would “rather the CCP rule Taiwan than have Taiwan taken away by Taiwan independents” (YouTube/huxudaji, September 1, 2011).
Chang himself has actively promoted unification for at least 20 years. In September 2005, he created a civil organization in Guangzhou called the “Defending China Alliance”. This organization later moved to Taipei, rebranding as the CUPP—Taiwan’s first party to openly support unification under the “one country, two systems” framework. As Chang has discussed in interviews, part of his goal in returning to Taiwan was to “cultivate red voters” who describe themselves as Chinese (Liberty Times, April 2, 2014; RFA, February 2, 2021).
Chang’s activism has included disrupting protests—sometimes violently—as well as engaging in protests of his own, such as during U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2021.
CUPP may present itself as a political party, but its personnel has overlapped substantially with the Bamboo Union. Beyond Chang himself, prominent Bamboo Union figure Li Tsung-kuei is a former CUPP vice chairman who has been active on pro-unification issues, though he now claims to be apolitical (163, February 5; Mirror Media, March 25). Earlier this year, reporting noted that Li had helped Terry Gou collect signatures for his failed presidential campaign, for which he was given a suspended sentence and a substantial fine (Yahoo News; UDN, April 28). Li is also closely associated with Hongmen organizations, which are also vectors for CCP influence in Taiwan and elsewhere (China Brief, June 7).
Taiwan responds with crackdown on organized crime and influence activities
In recent years, authorities in Taiwan have tried increasingly to crack down on criminal and subversive activities, including by targeting the Bamboo Union and CUPP. In November 2024, the Ministry of Justice announced that police suspected 134 CUPP members of involvement in illegal activities, including obstruction of justice, human trafficking, and homicide. That same month, prosecutors charged two CUPP members with receiving New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) 74 million (.3 million) from the CCP to make propaganda promoting Beijing’s political agenda and to influence elections in Taiwan (Taipei Times, November 6, 2024). In March, following the attempting meeting in the Legislative Yuan, Taipei Police issued a statement explaining that the National Police Agency had instructed units to investigate and prosecute Bamboo Union and other gang members for using criminal organizations as a front for political parties (Yahoo/Taiwan News, March 28).
In response to ongoing pro-PRC political influence campaigns, Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior moved in January this year to dissolve the CUPP, submitting the case to the Constitutional Court of the Judicial Yuan for a final decision.
Although no direct links were found between the former military officers and the Bamboo Union, Chang An-lo was identified as the intermediary who introduced Wen to the chief clerk of the Zhuhai Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office, who in turn connected Wen with a military officer of the Political Department Liaison Bureau (Liberty Times, March 28).
Conclusion
The activities of the Bamboo Union in conjunction with the CUPP are intended to subvert the authority of the Taiwanese government. The CCP’s use of triad gangs such as the Bamboo Union is a core component of its united front strategy, which is designed to sow internal divisions and erode public trust in state institutions. As President Lai noted in his March speech, these efforts seek to “create the illusion that China is governing Taiwan” (Office of the President, March 13).
The continued existence and financial success of triad gangs such as the Bamboo Union remain a thorn to civil society in Taiwan. If left unchecked, these groups will continue to erode the authority of the democratically elected government. Internationally, such gangs benefit from the tacit support of PRC united front and intelligence agencies, which overlook their criminal activities in exchange for advancing pro-unification messaging. However, while public intelligence disclosures and criminal cases implicate certain gang members, there is little evidence to suggest that Taiwan’s criminal networks constitute a coordinated “fifth column” prepared to assist a PRC takeover. Rather, their involvement reflects the CCP’s broad united front strategy, which seeks to co-opt actors across all sectors of society.
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12/12/2023 17:24
