Taipei: Taiwan's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld an eight-year prison sentence for Zhou Manzhi, head of a marriage-immigrant advocacy organization, for developing organizations in Taiwan under China's direction.
According to Focus Taiwan, a January 2026 ruling by the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court determined that Zhou, a China-born woman who obtained Taiwanese citizenship through marriage in 2004, established the Kaohsiung New Immigrant Sisters Association and the Taiwan New Immigrants Association under the direction of organizations effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2015.
The high court revealed that an investigation by the National Security Bureau found that the two organizations were founded under the direction of the Shaanxi Province Patriotic Volunteers Association and the China Patriotic Volunteers Association. These entities operate in line with CCP united front directives and are subject to control by provincial-level united front departments.
The court concluded that Zhou used the groups to cultivate influence among Chinese spouses, new immigrants, and second-generation immigrants, determining that her activities posed a threat to the Republic of China's (ROC) constitutional order and Taiwan's democratic system, while undermining social stability.
In sentencing Zhou, the court considered that her offenses involved ideological infiltration and united front activities rather than traditional espionage, and noted her lack of a prior criminal record. She was sentenced for violating the National Security Act by developing organizations in Taiwan on behalf of China with the intent to endanger national security and social stability.
According to the ROC's National Security Act, no person should engage in initiating, funding, hosting, manipulating, directing, or developing an organization for foreign hostile forces, including China. Zhou appealed the ruling, but the Supreme Court dismissed her appeal on Wednesday, finalizing the conviction.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that freedom of speech and political expression are protected under the law. However, it emphasized the threat when hostile forces exploit those freedoms to undermine democracy. The court noted that the lower court had established Zhou's development of organizations directly controlled by China with the intent to endanger national security and social stability.
The Supreme Court stated that Zhou acted under China's direction to develop organizations in Taiwan while concealing their ties to hostile forces, aiming to replace Taiwan's democratic order with the CCP's system. It found no error in the high court's application of the law, noting that Zhou's appeal repeated arguments already addressed in the lower court's ruling.
Zhou was initially acquitted in March 2025 after the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch found insufficient evidence of CCP control over the organizations. However, the Supreme Court later ruled that a National Security Bureau investigation linked the groups to CCP cadres and Chinese government personnel. After considering this evidence, the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch sentenced Zhou to eight years in January 2026, a conviction now upheld by the Supreme Court.