A Taiwan village chief and an association head were handed prison terms for taking neighborhood leaders and relatives on a Chinese-funded trip meant to swing the 2024 elections — a hard line on Beijing's influence work.

• Yao Wei-hua, a village chief in New Taipei's Tucheng district, got two and a half years; his co-organizer, Chien An-shih, got four years and eight months, with both barred from holding office.
• The 2023 trip was arranged and paid for on instructions from Nanjing's Taiwan affairs office — food, lodging and transport were free, and travelers only covered airfare.
• Chinese officials hosted banquets under "cross-strait one family" banners and urged the group to back the KMT-TPP alliance and Hou Yu-ih while rejecting the ruling DPP.
• A lower court had cleared both men for lack of evidence; the appeals court reversed, finding the trip cost half its market price and could sway votes.
• The supreme court threw out the appeal, making the convictions final, and the two are due to report to prison shortly.

Outlook: The final ruling gives Taiwanese prosecutors a firmer template for anti-infiltration cases as the next election cycle approaches.