TAIPEI: Five people in Taiwan were charged on Wednesday for allegedly attacking a Taiwanese stand-up comedian after he criticised the Chinese Communist Party, prosecutors said.
Taiwan has accused China of growing transnational repression targeting critics on the island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
The Taiwanese defendants were allegedly hired by a Chinese person to surveil and assault Huang Yi-hao to prevent him from performing at a show on Sept 20, the New Taipei Prosecutors Office said in a statement.
The five began tracking Huang in July and planned to stage a car accident with the intention of breaking his arms and legs so he would be hospitalised and unable to go on stage, the prosecutors said.
