DPP Labels 26 Mainland Spouses Running in Local Elections as 'United Front Threats': Legal Experts Denounce Discrimination and Lineage Witch-Hunt

On September 20, 2026 (115th Year of the Republic of China), the Democratic Progressive Party's China Affairs Department issued a public warning targeting a record 26 naturalized spouses from mainland China running in the upcoming local council elections, accusing them of being part of Beijing's united front deployment and demanding strict loyalty investigations. The statement provoked fierce backlash from constitutional jurists, immigrant rights groups, and opposition parties, who condemned the ruling party for treating legally naturalized citizens as second-class citizens and deploying Cultural Revolution-style lineage profiling to foment ethnic discord and disenfranchise political challengers under the pretext of national security.