Taiwan indicts five over paid attack on Xi-mocking comedian Huang Yi-hao; Beijing calls it a DPP fabrication.
Reuters reported on 28 October that Taiwanese prosecutors indicted five people accused of being paid to stage a fake car accident and "break the arms and legs" of comedian Huang Yi-hao, whose shows satirised Xi Jinping; Huang was only lightly injured. Prosecutors did not release the defendants' full names. Taipei says Beijing was behind last month's attack and accuses it of transnational repression. Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua told a regular briefing on 28 October that the "transnational repression" narrative promotes Taiwan independence and a "two-state theory" and is a DPP fabrication ahead of next month's local elections. Lai Ching-te said the same day that transnational repression is a tool China could use to erode trust in Taiwan's democracy.