A Taipei court has handed a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence to a Taiwanese association official for taking local politicians on a China-funded trip meant to push them toward a particular presidential candidate — a sign Taiwan is enforcing its anti-infiltration law with real jail time.

• A secretary-general of Taiwan's Anhui fellowship association was found guilty of organizing the trip on instructions from China's Anhui Taiwan Affairs Office.
• Two dozen local figures, including KMT district party officials and neighborhood chiefs, went on the eight-day trip in late 2023, just months before the January 2024 election.
• Participants paid only their flights and one night's hotel; Chinese officials covered the rest, which prosecutors treated as payment for influencing votes.
• Chinese officials used banquet speeches to push "both sides are one family" and anti-independence messaging, and the organizer openly urged the group to back KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih.
• The 24 guests were not charged, since prosecutors could not prove they understood the trip as a trade for their votes.

Outlook: The verdict can be appealed, and it sets a marker for how aggressively Taiwan will prosecute Beijing-funded election influence ahead of the next campaign cycle.