蔡吉源被捕及保外就醫 Gavin Tsai arrest & medical parole
79歲的臺灣退休學者蔡吉源（Gavin Tsai），因散發政治迷因（meme）而被流亡的中華民國政府（Republic of China in-exile）逮捕，目前已進入第四個月禁止接見、不得保釋的審前羈押。
蔡吉源（Gavin Chi-yuan Tsai）在2025年7月30日被捕前於部落格中謙虛地自述為「一個出身鄉村的典型臺灣男孩」。
蔡吉源於1946年10月24日出生於彰化二水一個貧窮農家。1960年代末，他的姊姊們籌錢供他就讀國立臺灣大學經濟系。1970年代初攻讀臺大碩士期間，蔡吉源成為李登輝教授的研究助理。「我很幸運能在李教授指導下完成碩士論文，從中學到非常多。」
他獲得美國國務院富布萊特-海斯獎學金（Fulbright-Hays Study Grant），並得到國科會補助，得以赴美國約翰·霍普金斯大學深造。「我的主修領域是公共財政，將經濟理論與政治決策結合。」
「1979年，我進入中央研究院從事研究。第一篇論文《稅負與住宅選擇》（Taxes and Residential Choice，刊於《PUBLIC CHOICE》1981年3月，第38卷，55-72頁）讓我在臺灣經濟學界小有名氣。我的研究大多針對李登輝總統時代的經濟與政治改革提出政策建議，因此必須密切關注李登輝的政治領導風格，結果我也參與推動了他的政治改革。」
「1999年，我因為一場公開演講嚴厲批評政府間財政關係的嚴重弊端，受到呂秀蓮邀請，出任桃園縣政府財政局局長。這份工作讓我徹底看清腐敗導致多少公帑被浪費、官商勾結到什麼程度，以及國民黨過去多年如何操弄政治權力向臺灣人收取政治稅金。」
蔡吉源一直擔任公共財政研究員，直到2009年退休，之後轉而研究國際法與戰爭法。2010年，他被任命為「臺灣民政府」倡議團體的「總理」，直到2013年初與創始人林志昇（Roger Lin）分裂。同年4月，他率團赴華盛頓，宣布成立「臺灣自治政府」（Taiwan Autonomy Government，簡稱TAG）。
離開時他帶走許多對「臺灣民政府」失望的成員，成為新團體的核心。2014年7月7日，約一百名TAG成員佔領南投一處省政府機關大樓大廳，四百名警察驅離人群，蔡吉源因侵佔罪被起訴。2015年，TAG向成員承諾一旦執政，將退還50%稅款，中華民國檢方以詐欺罪起訴，但法院駁回。
2016年，蔡吉源正式成為TAG「臨時總統」，中華民國當局開始嚴密監控。警察成為TAG活動的常客，TAG車隊遊行時也會有警察機車緊跟護送（實則監視）。2018年「臺灣民政府」領袖林志昇因詐欺被捕後，蔡吉源確信林志昇把錢藏在華盛頓某銀行，曾試圖找律師追討，但未果。
接下來是「河川插旗」行動。為了在自決運動中取得法理立足點，蔡吉源認為掌控臺灣河川是展現正當性的好方式，於是TAG成員在全臺21條主要河川插旗立牌。檢方雖提告，但法院判決並無侵佔公有土地，全部撤銷。
為了爭取「事實政府」的公眾認同，TAG又製作外觀近似真實傳票的「迷因傳票」（meme subpoenas），要求各級官員到TAG總部「出庭」。檢方再次出手，指控偽造文書。2025年7月初，蔡吉源赴美試圖會見川普總統或國務卿馬可·魯比奧（Marco Rubio）未果，返回臺灣時，檢方早已準備好案子，警察在桃園機場等候，將他逮捕。
逮捕後警方先搜查TAG總部（該團體的公開集會場所），隨後將他收押。至今蔡吉源仍被拒保、禁止接見的審前羈押。表面罪名是「意圖詐欺之偽造文書」，實際罪名只是膽敢自稱「臺灣臨時總統」。
中央通訊社對此案的報導充分顯示其政治迫害本質。作為官方通訊社，中央通社把TAG總部稱為蔡吉源的「藏匿處」，並引述檢方說法：「蔡員行為足以誤導民眾、造成人們恐慌，並損害民眾對司法的信賴，本署認其涉犯偽造文書罪嫌重大，且有逃亡、串供之虞。」
蔡吉源或許挑戰中華民國政權顯得魯莽，但要說他有逃亡風險實在牽強。79歲高齡、身體狀況不佳、需拄拐杖，最近一次出庭還坐輪椅；他從未隱藏對中華民國的反感，該站出來時也從不退縮——這哪像會逃亡的人？至於「串供」，他發迷因傳票從來大張旗鼓，有什麼好串的？
蔡吉源遭受的嚴苛審前羈押，本身就是他已成為政治犯的最佳證明。
79 year-old retired Taiwanese scholar Gavin Tsai is in fourth month of incommunicado pre-trial detention without bail by Republic of China in-exile for distribution of a political meme
Gavin Chi-yuan Tsai modestly describes himself as “a typical Taiwanese boy from a rural background” in a blog he published before his July 30, 2025 arrest.
Gavin was born on October 24, 1946, to a poor farm family in Ershui, Changhua. His sisters paid for his tuition to National Taiwan University in the late 1960s where he studied economics. While pursuing graduate studies at NTU in the early 1970s Gavin became a research assistant to Professor Lee Teng-hui. “I was lucky to write my MA thesis with Professor Lee and learned very much under his supervision.”
Gavin received a Fulbright-Hays Study Grant from the State Department which made it possible for him to study in the United States. Additional financial support from the National Science Council allowed Gavin to study at Johns Hopkins University. “My major field is public finance in which economic theory and political decision making are integrated.”
“In 1979, I took a position at Academia Sinica to do research. My first publication “Taxes and Residential Choice” (PUBLIC CHOICE, Vol.38, March 1981, PP.55-72) made me popular among Taiwan economists. Most of my researches were policy reform implications for the purpose of President Lee’s economic and political reforms. I had to pay very much attention to Lee’s political leadership during Lee Administration of the Republic of China. As a result, I took a part to push forward Lee’s political reform too.”
“In 1999, I was invited to be the Director of Finance Department of Tao-Yuan County Government by Annette Lu after she heard one of my public speeches in criticizing seriously the very wrongdoing intergovernmental finance relationships. This job provided me a good opportunity to thoroughly understand how much money was wasted by corruption and in what extent the officials and businessmen formulate their collusion, and how the KMT manipulates the political power to collect political rents from Taiwanese in the past years.”
Gavin was a public finance researcher until retirement in 2009, when he took up study of international law and laws of war. In 2010, Gavin was selected as Prime Minister of the Taiwan Civil Government advocacy group, a post he held until he split with TCG founder Roger Lin in early 2013. In April of that year Gavin traveled to Washington with a delegation and announced the formation of Taiwan Autonomy Government.
Gavin took a number of disillusioned TCG members with him when he departed and they formed the nucleus of the new group. On July 7, 2014, approximately one hundred TAG members occupied a provincial office building lobby in Nantou District. Four hundred police evicted the group and Gavin was indicted for trespass. In 2015, TAG offered a fifty-percent tax rebate to group members when TAG takes over the reins of government. ROC prosecutors tried to claim fraud but the charges were thrown out.
In 2016, Gavin formally became the Provisional President of TAG and the ROC authorities were watching. The police became a regular fixture at TAG events and provided a tight motorcycle escort when TAG caravans would parade with their banners and flags. After the arrest of TCG leaders for fraud in 2018, Gavin was convinced Roger Lin had hidden money in a Washington bank and made a futile search for an attorney to recover the money.
The river signs came next. Eager to establish a legal foothold in a self-determination campaign, Gavin got the idea that control of Taiwan’s rivers was a good indicator of legitimacy and TAG members planted signs and flags on twenty-one major rivers. The signs led to more charges by ROC prosecutors but they were dismissed in court which ruled there had been no theft of public land as charged.
Still seeking public recognition as a defacto government in formation, TAG issued meme subpoenas, which resembled real subpoenas, directing various public officials to appear at the TAG headquarters. Once again ROC prosecutors sprang into action and claimed the meme subpoenas were forgeries of real court forms and hence fraudulent. While Gavin was in the United States in a failed bid to meet with President Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the ROC prosecutors prepared their case and had police waiting at Taoyuan Airport when Gavin returned home at the end of July 2025.
Gavin was arrested and taken to TAG headquarters for a search, then off to jail. Gavin has been held ever since in incommunicado pre-trial detention without bail. Although charged with forgery for fraudulent purposes, Gavin’s real crime was having the temerity to claim he was the Provisional President of Taiwan.
The Central News Agency account of Gavin’s arrest shows the political character of the prosecution. CNA is the national ROC news agency and offers the official version of events. The TAG headquarters, which is the group’s public meeting place, was referred to as Gavin’s “hideout.” The news report stated, “Tsai’s actions were misleading, caused panic among the victims, and damaged public trust in the judiciary, the Prosecutors Office determined that Tsai was seriously suspected of forgery of official documents and posed a risk of flight and collusion with accomplices.”
Gavin may be foolhardy for taking on the ROC government but he is an unlikely flight-risk. In poor heath, the 79 year-old has to use a cane and was in a jail wheelchair for a recent court appearance. Gavin has never tried to hide his distaste for the ROC and has stood his ground when it was time to battle—hardly the actions of a flight risk. As for collusion with accomplices, there is nothing to collude about as Gavin is not shy about sending out the memes.
Gavin Tsai’s harsh pre-trial detention is proof enough that he is indeed a political prisoner.
Airport arrest of Taiwan Autonomy Government ‘Prime Minister’ Gavin Tsai after attempted visit with Donald Trump triggered incommunicado pre-trial detention without bail by Republic of China in-exile
The arrest of Taiwan Autonomy Government founder and “Prime Minister” Gavin Chi-yuan Tsai on July 31st at an airport in Taiwan was an unexpected end to a trip to the United States. Tsai had gone in hopes of meeting with President Donald Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Unable to land an appointment with either man, Gavin returned home only to be whisked into pre-trial detention in Taichung without bail or visitors.
Charged with use of fraudulent official documents, 79 year-old Gavin, who suffers from kidney disease and uses a cane, has been called a flight risk. The restriction on visitation seems more punitive than necessary to guarantee showing up for court dates. So why the incommunicado detention? Gavin wants to rid Taiwan of the Republic of China in-exile rule.
Taiwan has suffered from a lack of sovereignty since the end of World War II and its unresolved status is a consequence of American foreign policy which is one of strategic ambiguity. The United States installed the exiled Republic of China as an interim caretaker government, however the Cold War led to continued occupation by the Kuomintang regime of Chiang Kai-shek. The United States does not recognize the ROC but continues to support the exiled government creating a lot of confusion and putting Taiwan at risk of invasion from the Peoples Republic of China.
Gavin, the first “Prime Minister” of the Taiwan Civil Government, was an early associate of the late Roger Lin and together they plotted against the ROC. However, dissatisfaction with Lin’s money management led Gavin to split with the TCG and form his own group called Taiwan Government. That created problems with the ROC which considers itself the Taiwan Government so Gavin changed the name to Taiwan Autonomy Government and took a purported quarter of the TCG membership with him. Roger Lin’s widow, Julian Lin, calls Gavin a traitor for his disloyalty to TCG.
The TAG philosophy is similar to that of TCG and has a decidedly friendly attitude toward the United States. Both groups teach and preach the unresolved international status of Taiwan is fertile ground for self-determination and seek American assistance ridding the island of the exiled Chinese government which has controlled Taiwan since the end of World War II.
The fraud prosecution of TCG leaders, which led to the conviction of Julian Lin and others, was a long-running prelude to TAG’s current problems. Both groups are essentially shadow governments seeking to purge the ROC from Taiwan which goes a long way to explaining Gavin’s harsh treatment. Prosecutor Chen Li-wei told a judge that the ban on visitation was needed to prevent evidence tampering. Apparently Taichung District prosecutors think there is some risk of visitors smuggling documents into the jail for Gavin to tamper with in his cell.
Gavin, despite his health problems, had traveled to New York in hopes of securing American support for his fledgling group. Upon arrival back in Taiwan, Gavin texted a friend that he had landed. Minutes later Central Investigation Bureau agents arrested the weary traveler and took him to the TAG headquarters in Ershui Township for a search. Following the search Gavin was taken to jail where he is held without bail and is forbidden to have visitors.
Prosecutors have presented a mish-mash of charges including violation of the Lawyer Act, use of fraudulent subpoenas, offering 50% tax savings, and collecting $4,000 NT dollar commissions for favorable litigation outcomes.
Michael Yeun, head of the Taiwan Foundation International, rejects the allegations against Gavin Tsai. Yeun has written to the White House in defense of the TAG leader. “We believe Mr. Tsai is a person of integrity and peace loving patriot who is fighting for a genuine political system acceptable for all, especially for the United States of America.”
Gavin’s message for Washington is contained in a letter to Donald Trump:
“Through Managing Director of American Institute of Taiwan, Dr. Ingrid D. Larsen’s suggestion, I am writing to you.”
“Please note, that the TAG is the only group in Taiwan which insists that Taiwanese are nothing but American non-citizen nationals according to historical facts and international rules and laws.”
At the pre-trial detention hearing prosecutors claimed Gavin’s use of fraudulent court documents caused confusion and panic among victims, which could damage public trust in the judicial system. To protect the national judicial system and safeguard social order and public interests, the prosecutor’s office vowed it will pursue prosecution to the full extent of the law.
Gavin’s treatment as a dangerous criminal is in sharp contrast with the polite demeanor and soft-spoken ways of the American-educated activist. Friends of his are worried Gavin will not be receiving proper medical care while locked away from contact with the outside world. The prosecution of TCG leaders has dragged on for over a half-decade and is still under appeal. The prosecution of TAG leader Gavin Tsai may include a long wait for a chance to clear his name.
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