Five indicted for car attack

Taiwan prosecutors indicted five people for allegedly plotting to hit comedian Huang Yi-hao with a car after his shows mocked the Chinese government and President Xi Jinping.

Hired by Chinese person

The Taiwanese defendants were hired by a Chinese person and began tracking Huang Yi-hao in July, planning to break his arms and legs so he could not perform, according to the New Taipei Prosecutors Office.

Huang hit while riding home

Huang Yi-hao was hit and injured by a car as he rode home on his scooter last month, leaving him with a bruised pelvis. Two defendants have admitted involvement in the plan.

Two minutes of criticism

Huang said he only criticised Xi Jinping for two and a half minutes in his show. He faced both a faeces-throwing attack in May and the deliberate vehicular assault.

“Yet I was subsequently targeted with both a faeces-throwing attack and a deliberate vehicular assault.”

Prosecutors cite transnational repression

Prosecutors said the case involves the Chinese Communist Party using cross-border suppression tactics to direct lawless elements in Taiwan to suppress dissenting political voices through extreme violence.

“This case involves a serious incident in which the Chinese Communist Party is suspected of using cross-border suppression tactics to direct lawless elements in our country to suppress dissenting political voices through extreme violence.”

Huang warns on Taiwan's future

Huang thanked prosecutors and invited them to his shows. He asked how Taiwan can retain freedom of speech if the CCP were to rule Taiwan, given the violence he faced for mere criticism.

“If people can already be subjected to this kind of treatment simply for criticising the Chinese Communist Party when it does not even govern Taiwan, how can we expect to retain our current freedom of speech if the CCP were ever to rule Taiwan?”