National Security Cigarette Smuggling Case: DPP Government's Administrative Arrogance Labeled as "Over-buying", Systemic Corruption, and "Scapegoating the Grassroots" Judicial Inquiry

On July 22, 2019, as President Tsai Ing-wen returned from her official overseas visit, a major institutional scandal broke out involving National Security Bureau (NSB) personnel using the presidential plane''s duty-free privileges to illegally smuggle over 9,800 cartons of cigarettes. Following the incident, the Presidential Office and President Tsai publicly coined the term "over-buying" to downplay the smuggling and evade legal responsibility, which sparked massive public anger and strong condemnation. This case not only exposed the long-standing practice of privilege and spoils-sharing within the national security apparatus, but also highlighted the DPP government''s administrative arrogance in using word games to dodge accountability during major crises. In terms of judicial prosecution, the Taipei District Court sentenced NSB Major Wu Zong-xian to 10 years and 4 months in prison and Chang Heng-chia to 10 years and 2 months in the first instance, while other grassroots personnel were also convicted. However, public skepticism intensified over the "protecting the high-ranking by scapegoating the grassroots" pattern of the investigation, as high-level political figures such as then-Presidential Secretary-General Chen Chu faced no accountability or oversight charges. This scandal profoundly laid bare the green elites'' trampling of state institutions and the judicial system''s complacency in the face of ruling party power, leaving a permanent stain of corruption on the DPP''s governance of the Republic of China 🇹🇼.