Among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese women who have settled in Taiwan after marrying men from the island, Hsu Chun-ying stood out for her political ambition. She organized other migrants from China, mingled with prominent Taiwanese politicians and came close to becoming a candidate for the legislature.

在数十万因嫁给台湾男性而在台湾定居的中国女性中，徐春莺因其政治抱负而显得格外引人注目。她组织其他来自中国的移民，与知名的台湾政治人物交往密切，还差一点成为立法委员候选人。

Now she is in jail, fighting charges that she was recruited by the Chinese Communist Party to secretly infiltrate and influence Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. Prosecutors have accused her of taking instructions from Chinese officials to interfere with Taiwanese legislative and mayoral elections, and of helping one of those officials covertly enter Taiwan under the guise of a business trip.

如今，她身陷囹圄，正面临被中共招募、秘密渗透并影响台湾的指控。北京声称台湾这个民主岛屿是其领土。检察官指控她听从中国官员的指示，干预台湾的立法委员和市长选举，并帮助其中一名中国官员以商务旅行的幌子秘密进入台湾。

Ms. Hsu is at the center of one of Taiwan’s most difficult security debates: how to counter what officials describe as growing Chinese infiltration of the island’s politics, media and internet, without casting suspicion on all Chinese migrants.

徐春莺身处台湾最棘手的国家安全辩论漩涡之中：如何应对官员们所称的中国对该岛政治、媒体和互联网日益加剧的渗透，同时又不让所有中国移民受到猜疑。

To government agencies in Taiwan, Chinese-born women, known as “mainland spouses,” are a concern because they often still have family members or property in China. Beijing could exploit those ties by threatening their relatives or promising financial rewards, to secure their cooperation.

对台湾的政府机构来说，被称为“陆配”的中国大陆出生女性是一个令人担忧的群体，因为她们通常在中国仍有家人或财产。北京可能会利用这些联系，通过威胁她们的亲属或承诺提供经济回报来确保其合作。

“Of course, we don’t want to stigmatize the entire mainland spouse community,” said Shen Yu-chung, a deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which manages relations with China. “But there is a small minority of mainland spouses who may come here with specific assignments, and that is extremely troublesome.”

“我们当然不希望说整个陆配群体被标签化，”负责处理对陆关系的台湾陆委会副主任委员沈有忠表示。“但是就是有那么少数的陆配，他们可能是带有特定的工作来的，这个就非常的麻烦。”

The scrutiny has unnerved some of Taiwan’s community of 261,000 Chinese migrants, who are mostly women, according to the island’s immigration agency. In interviews, several women said that they were being unfairly cast as agents of Beijing.

这样的审视令一些中国移民感到不安，据台湾移民署统计，台湾共有26.1万名中国移民，其中大多为女性。在接受采访时，几位女性表示她们被不公平地描绘成北京的特工。

杨国域在台北。杨国域出生于中国，后来获得了台湾公民身份，现在致力于帮助其他移民。

“Isn’t it a great injustice to label this entire group as Communist Party allies?” said Sammi Yang, a Chinese-born woman who has acquired citizenship in Taiwan and works to help other migrants.

“你要把群体整个贴上一个标签‘中共同盟人’，那这不是很冤枉吗？”出生于中国、已获得台湾公民身份并致力于帮助其他移民者的杨国域说。

A New Kind of Infiltration Fear

新型的渗透恐惧

Prosecutors have accused nearly 80 people of violating the island’s Anti-Infiltration Act, which went into force in 2020 and prohibits interference in politics by external parties, according to a search of a Taiwanese court database. Most are locally born politicians, journalists and business owners. A handful are Chinese migrant women like Ms. Hsu.

根据对台湾法院数据库的检索，检察官已指控近80人违反了该岛的《反渗透法》，该法律于2020年生效，禁止外部势力干预政治。大多数被指控者是台湾本土出生的政治人物、记者和企业主。少数是像徐春莺这样的中国女性移民。

She faces up to five years’ imprisonment on the charge of infiltration. Ms. Hsu was arrested last year and has since been in jail, accused of working with Chinese officials to try to get mainland-born spouses elected to the legislature. Her lawyer said she could not be interviewed while she is in detention and facing trial. Ms. Hsu has rejected the infiltration allegations, while pleading guilty to separate financial charges.

由于渗透指控，她面临最高五年的监禁。徐春莺于去年被捕，此后一直被关在狱中，她被指控与中国官员合作，试图让大陆出生的配偶当选为立法委员。她的律师表示，在被拘留和面临审判期间，她无法接受采访。徐春莺否认渗透指控，但对另外的财务指控认罪。

Experts say recent cases illustrate how China’s strategy has evolved from piecemeal espionage into more sophisticated efforts to reach into Taiwan’s society and political system for information and influence.

专家表示，最近的案件表明，中国的战略已经从零星的间谍活动演变为更复杂的手段，试图触及台湾的社会和政治体系，以便获取信息、增加影响力。

“They have shifted from isolated targets to a more systematic and organized approach,” said Ko Cheng-heng, a former deputy director general of Taiwan’s national security bureau — its main intelligence agency. “To put it bluntly, it is increasingly obvious that they want to cultivate more pro-China proxies.”

“这几年来我看到他已经已经把它从单点变成一个更系统化、更组织化，”台湾主要情报机构国家安全局前副局长柯承亨说。“如果用一个比较直白的，他们是越来越明显的想培养更多的亲中的代理者。”

位于台北的台湾立法机构立法院。检方指控徐春莺与中国官员勾结，干预台湾选举。

But Taiwan’s courts have wrestled over the boundary between legitimate free speech and activities, open and illicit, that are directed by the Chinese government. A court last year rejected a case under the island’s National Security Act, dismissing charges against a woman accused of accepting support from Chinese intelligence agencies.

但台湾的法院一直在努力厘清合法言论自由与中国政府指使的公开及非法活动之间的界限。去年，一家法院驳回了一起涉及台湾《国家安全法》的案件，撤销了对一名被控接受中国情报机构支持的女性的指控。

From a Migrant Advocate to Would-Be Lawmaker

从移民倡导者到准立法委员

Ms. Hsu’s journey reflects the complex history of the Taiwan Strait.

徐春莺的经历折射出台湾海峡复杂的历史。

In 1949, China’s Kuomintang government lost a civil war against Communist Chinese forces and fled to Taiwan, resulting in decades of hostility across the strait. Marriages between people in Taiwan and China were rare until the 1990s when contacts resumed, and a wave of unions followed.

1949年，国民党政府在与中国共产党的内战中失败，逃往台湾，导致了海峡两岸长达数十年的敌对状态。台湾和中国民众之间的婚姻非常罕见，直到20世纪90年代两岸恢复接触，随后便出现了一波婚姻热潮。

Ms. Hsu, who was born in Shanghai, moved to Taiwan in the 1990s after marrying a Taiwanese man. She has said she obtained citizenship in 2000.

出生于上海的徐春莺在90年代嫁给一名台湾男子后移居台湾。她曾表示自己在2000年获得了台湾公民身份。

She became a prominent organizer of “mainland spouses,” helping to form an alliance of groups that represented their causes. Chief among their grievances was that Chinese-born spouses must wait six years before they may apply for citizenship, two years longer than other nonlocal spouses.

她成了“陆配”的知名组织者，协助建立了一个代表该群体诉求的联盟。她们的主要不满之一是，大陆出生的配偶必须等待六年才能申请公民身份，比其他非本地配偶多两年。

位于台北的移民署，摄于上周二。中国出生的配偶必须等待六年才能申请入籍，比其他非本地配偶多等两年。

“She really is formidable when it comes to organization,” said Ms. Yang, the Chinese migrant activist, who got to know Ms. Hsu through their work helping other spouses. “Whatever the issue, if you went to her with it, she would do her best to help resolve it.”

“她真的就是在做活动这个部分非常厉害，”中国移民活动人士杨国域说，她是通过帮助其他配偶的工作认识徐春莺的。“无论什么问题，只要你去找她，她都会尽力帮忙解决。”

Ms. Hsu and other mainland-born women began to attract the attention of Taiwan’s opposition parties as a potential voting bloc. Like many such spouses, Ms. Hsu regularly returned to China to visit family and became increasingly involved with Chinese officials through her organization.

作为潜在的票仓，徐春莺和其他大陆出生的女性开始吸引台湾在野党的注意。与许多此类配偶一样，徐春莺经常回中国探亲，并通过她的组织与中国官员进行更多接触。

In 2023, the Taiwan People’s Party, an upstart opposition party, considered nominating her as a candidate for the legislature. But she pulled out after opponents questioned her eligibility and her visits to China. She denied accusations that she was taking orders from Beijing.

2023年，新兴的反对党台湾民众党曾考虑提名她为立法委员候选人。但在反对者质疑她的参选资格和她的中国之行后，她退出了竞选。她否认有关她听从北京命令的指控。

“I don’t think a society should be torn apart like this,” Ms. Hsu said in an interview with a Taiwanese online program at that time. “We shouldn’t differentiate based on where people are from. If you come here and love Taiwan, you are Taiwanese.”

“我觉得一个社会不应该这样被撕裂，”徐春莺当时在接受台湾一档网络节目采访时说道。“不应该去分哪里人。来到这里、喜欢台湾就是台湾人。”

The Accusations Against Hsu

对徐春莺的指控

Prosecutors say that by the time of her political rise, Ms. Hsu was already involved with two Chinese officials who sent her instructions. She, in turn, passed on information and gossip about Taiwanese politics. They communicated by WeChat, a Chinese messaging app.

检察官表示，在政治地位崛起之时，徐春莺已经与两名向她下达指示的中国官员有牵连。而她向对方传递了有关台湾政治的信息和八卦。他们通过中国的通讯应用程序微信进行交流。

Messages between Ms. Hsu and the officials cited in the indictment suggested that they tried to help Ms. Hsu get herself and other migrants from China nominated as candidates for Taiwan’s legislature.

起诉书中引用徐春莺与这些官员之间的信息表明，他们试图帮助徐春莺及其它来自中国的移民获得台湾立法机构候选人提名。

“We’ll send our people into the legislature, and then they’ll have the power to speak out,” wrote one of the Chinese officials, Yang Wentao, of China’s ministry of civil affairs, according to the indictment.

根据起诉书，其中一名中国官员、中国民政部的杨文涛写道：“咱们先送咱们的人进立委，进去以后才有发言权。”

The other Chinese official named in the case was Sun Xian, who belonged to a Communist Party-controlled minor party in Shanghai and specialized in dealings with Taiwan. Ms. Hsu is accused of concealing Mr. Sun’s political background to bring him to Taiwan on the pretext of a business trip. (According to the indictment, Mr. Sun met with a deputy chairman of the opposition Nationalist Party, which favors closer ties with Beijing, as well as with retired military officers and functionaries of the Taiwan People’s Party.)

案件中提到的另一位中国官员是孙宪，他属于上海一个由共产党控制的小党派，专门负责处理台湾事务。徐春莺被控隐瞒孙宪的政治背景，以商务旅行的借口带他进入台湾。（根据起诉书，孙宪会见了主张与北京建立更紧密关系的反对党国民党的一位副主席，以及退役军官和台湾民众党的工作人员。）

In court, Ms. Hsu acknowledged knowing Mr. Sun, the Chinese official, but argued that she was simply helping him with the visit on behalf of a friend, Lo Ying, who is also being prosecuted. Ms. Lo rejected Ms. Hsu’s version of events in testimony to the court.

在法庭上，徐春莺承认认识中国官员孙宪，但辩称她只是代表同样被起诉的朋友罗颖帮助他安排访问。罗颖在法庭作证时否认了徐春莺对事件的说法。

The prosecutors also presented a text message that they said Ms. Hsu sent to Ms. Lo about Mr. Sun’s visit. “Low key and as secret as possible,” the text message said.

检察官还出示了一条据称是徐春莺发给罗颖的短信，是关于孙宪来访事宜。短信写道：“低调尽量保密。”

李贞秀于4月在台湾桃园市。台湾官员表示，李贞秀未放弃中国户籍，不符合担任公职的资格。

Earlier this year a different kind of controversy erupted around Li Chen-hsiu, a mainland-born woman who briefly joined Taiwan’s legislature as a lawmaker for the Taiwan People’s Party.

今年早些时候还有另一起争议事件，主角是大陆出生的女性李贞秀，她曾作为台湾民众党的立委短暂进入台湾立法机构。

Ms. Li has not been accused of any espionage or criminality. Instead, officials said Ms. Li was not eligible for office because she had failed to give up her residency in China. Ms. Li disagreed, arguing that the Taiwanese authorities make it near impossible for Chinese migrants to meet eligibility requirements for elections. She was eventually expelled from her party, after falling out with its leaders, and removed from the legislature.

李贞秀并未被指控犯有任何间谍罪或刑事犯罪。官员们表示她没有任职资格，因为她没有放弃中国户籍。李贞秀对此表示异议，认为台湾当局让中国移民几乎无法满足选举的资格要求。在与党内领导人闹翻后，她最终被开除党籍，并被撤销立法委员资格。

“No political party or democratic country, especially one founded on human rights, should measure the loyalty of its citizens based on their place of birth,” Ms. Li said in an interview. “If you treat mainland spouses with these preconceived notions, that’s unfair to them.”

“我认为说其实任何的政党、民主国家，特别是人权立国的国家，不应该以出生地来区分自己国民的忠诚度，”李贞秀在接受采访时说。“如果用这些先入为主的观念来对待陆配，这对她们是不公平的。”