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[Global Times Comprehensive Report] People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je is embroiled in a scandal involving false political donation accounts, and the party's 2024 Taiwan regional leader election campaign secretary-general Huang Shanshan is considered to bear a great deal of responsibility.

According to Taiwan's China Times on the 21st, the People's Party Central Evaluation Committee held a meeting on the afternoon of the 20th. It was originally scheduled to interview the then-chief financial officer of the campaign headquarters, Li Wenzong, and the appointed accountant, Duanmu Zheng, but neither of them attended. Huang Shanshan arrived at 4 pm. At 7 pm, Li Weihua, chairman of the Central Evaluation Committee, came forward to explain the results of the meeting. The Central Evaluation Committee stated that there were many flaws in the political donation reporting process, which had seriously affected the party's reputation. As the general secretary of the campaign, Huang Shanshan had the final approval power for all administrative matters of the election and should be responsible for this. Therefore, the meeting decided to suspend Huang for three years, that is, to stop her positions as a member of the Central Committee of the People's Party and a cadre of the party group in the Legislative Yuan, and the Central Evaluation Committee will set up a project investigation team. If the subsequent investigation shows that she is involved in a serious case, she will be punished again. As for Li Wenzong and Duanmu Zheng, they were expelled due to serious violations.

According to reports, Huang Shanshan was only suspended, which did not affect her status as a non-district legislator, but she was not allowed to hold party positions. Wu Chuncheng was appointed as the deputy convener of the People's Party's Legislative Yuan caucus, and legislator Mai Yuzhen took over as the secretary-general. Huang Shanshan said she "respected and accepted" the Central Evaluation Committee's suspension decision, saying that she would conduct a comprehensive investigation and face all doubts honestly. She would continue to work with colleagues at the campaign headquarters to clarify relevant accounts and do her best to complete the follow-up task of "checking accounts and rebuilding trust" assigned by Ko Wen-je.

It is understood that Huang Shanshan has been suspended for three years. Unless she appeals and obtains the People's Party's consent to cancel the suspension, she will not be nominated to run for mayor in 2026. People's Party Secretary-General Zhou Yuxiu said that suspension means the suspension of all party rights, including primary elections and seeking nominations. Huang Shanshan certainly has no right to represent the People's Party in the 2026 "nine-in-one" election.

However, such a punishment cannot calm the anger within the People's Party. Xie Ligong, former secretary-general of the People's Party, believes that Huang Shanshan should know when to advance and retreat, and should not wait for others to expel her, but should judge for herself what to do next. He said that Huang has been favored and promoted by Ke Wenzhe for a long time. When Ke Wenzhe was "burned by fire", she should have the courage to come out and take responsibility. Xie Ligong revealed that many people asked him why Huang Shanshan did not resign? If the people favored by Ke Wenzhe are unwilling to stand up, it will also be a great harm to supporters. Others said that this move made the supporters of the People's Party angry, and what they wanted was Huang Shanshan to leave the "Legislative Yuan". Former "legislator" Guo Zhengliang said on the 20th that the People's Party basically had three options: the first was to remove Huang Shanshan, and if she was expelled, it would mean that she would definitely not be a non-district "legislator"; the second was to suspend her rights and attach her own resignation statement, but Huang Shanshan was obviously unwilling to resign, so only suspension was left, "This is the third option, and now it is equivalent to adopting the lightest option."

According to the China Times Electronic News on the 21st, Zhang Yishan, a former member of the Central Committee of the People's Party, believes that Huang Shanshan is Ko Wen-je's "political firewall" and cannot be overthrown or expelled, otherwise there will be no one in the "Legislative Yuan" to check and balance the party's caucus convener Huang Kuo-chang. In addition, keeping her can also allow her to shoulder the political responsibility of the false accounting case. Zhang Yishan said that although for Ko Wen-je, Huang Shanshan is unlikely to be elected even if she runs for mayor of Taipei, but without her, there will be one less bargaining chip to compete with the Kuomintang. Li Yanqiu, a senior media person in Taiwan, said on the 21st that Ko Wen-je had several actions with deep meaning during the period when the false accounting case broke out. First, he invited money launderer and embezzler Chen Shui-bian to teach at the People's Party Youth Camp; secondly, while sticking to the "independence faction", Ko Wen-je did not forget to sneer at the Kuomintang, saying "We just reported honestly, and the Kuomintang only reported NT$200 million", but the Democratic Progressive Party only reported NT$500 million, so why didn't he sneer? Li Yanqiu believes that since Ko Wen-je is leaning towards deep green, it can be predicted that as long as the DPP lets him go, he will be able to get through, "so he will have more actions to open up to the DPP."

A commentary published in the China Times on the 21st stated that Huang Shanshan, who did not lose her party membership, retained her seat as a legislator, and the reason behind this was full of conflicts of interest and political calculations. "However, whether the People's Party can escape this disaster is still uncertain." The article mentioned that the latest poll conducted by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation showed that although the support for the People's Party only dropped by 2.2 percentage points, the number of people who had a favorable impression of it dropped by 14.7 percentage points, which can be described as a "halved decline", while the number of people who disliked it increased by 11.3 percentage points. Whether Huang Shanshan, known as the "political chameleon", can become Ke Wenzhe's amulet and help the People's Party overcome difficulties remains in doubt. Taiwan's United Daily News stated on the 21st that Huang Shanshan had previously resigned from the Central Committee of the People's Party on her own initiative, and the suspension only affected her position as the deputy convener of the party group in the Legislative Yuan. Although she cannot actively fight for the 2026 county and city mayoral elections, "such a painless punishment may be difficult to curb the constant voices of "forcing the palace" within the party." (Zhang Ruo)