As a Taiwanese living overseas, I was last week surprised to read reports that children in Taiwan had died after contracting COVID-19. This was strange: Taiwan’s COVID-19 pandemic prevention is widely acknowledged to be one of the most successful in the world, and its fatality rate from the virus is comparatively low. How was a rumor like this able to gain so much traction?
Over the past few days, the truth has come out. An individual deliberately spread false information about fatal cases among children.
This was picked up and amplified by a Taiwanese celebrity with the intention of harming the nation’s image and stirring up chaos within society.
Just 10 seconds after the celebrity posted the remark, saying that “many children have died” on social media, fake news content farms had posted the erroneous information on 19 Facebook pages. In less than 24 hours, the fake news had been reposted more than 300 times, generating 7,000 to 8,000 interactions and about 1,000 replies.
The effect of this viral transmission of the fake news story gaining traction should not be underestimated.
However, the problem was compounded by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who lent credence to the fake news story and stated that it was not the business of a government to censor speech.
Ko’s words and actions are extremely concerning for the following reasons:
First, it is shocking that Ko, who is a medical doctor, is confused about the real pandemic situation and does not have a handle on the data.
Second, Ko’s indifference, complete lack of judgement and flimsy mental defenses in the face of a fake news attack is extremely concerning.
Third, Ko has displayed an astonishing lack of basic legal knowledge in his apparent inability to comprehend that the guarantee of free speech does not extend to fake news or that the dissemination of assertions without proof constitutes slander.
Chinese cognitive warfare against Taiwan is becoming more intense by the day. Pro-China Taiwanese media recently carried fake reports that Taiwanese do not have enough food. The response by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was swift. The government immediately rebutted the malicious reports by posting photographs of Taiwanese night markets brimming with food and heaving with visitors.
A similar modus operandi was used in Australia. A pro-China media outlet posted fake reports that many Australians were struggling to pay sky-high electricity bills, and could not afford to eat or buy medicine.
It might be surprising that the outlet was set up by a Taiwanese and the person responsible for the fake news report was a committee member of an overseas Taiwanese organization.
Unfortunately, the infiltration of overseas Taiwanese organizations and groups by the Chinese Communist Party, with committee members biting the hand that feeds them and secretly aiding the enemy, has become a common occurrence.
A recent study by Swedish researchers revealed that Taiwan is facing an onslaught of fake news produced by China or pro-Chinese sources, and overseas Taiwanese groups are in the thick of it. The only hope of resolving the problem is to increase awareness in Taiwan.
The ability to identify fake news is a basic defensive measure in the fight against cognitive warfare, and is more vital than guns or bullets. Countries around the world are devoting resources to identifying fake news.
The ease with which Ko was taken in by the fake news on child deaths from COVID-19 is enough to make one weep tears of frustration.
Susie Su is a Taiwanese living in Australia.
Translated by Edward Jones
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
After the coup in Burma in 2021, the country’s decades-long armed conflict escalated into a full-scale war. On one side was the Burmese army; large, well-equipped, and funded by China, supported with weapons, including airplanes and helicopters from China and Russia. On the other side were the pro-democracy forces, composed of countless small ethnic resistance armies. The military junta cut off electricity, phone and cell service, and the Internet in most of the country, leaving resistance forces isolated from the outside world and making it difficult for the various armies to coordinate with one another. Despite being severely outnumbered and
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
After the confrontation between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday last week, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, discussed this shocking event in an interview. Describing it as a disaster “not only for Ukraine, but also for the US,” Bolton added: “If I were in Taiwan, I would be very worried right now.” Indeed, Taiwanese have been observing — and discussing — this jarring clash as a foreboding signal. Pro-China commentators largely view it as further evidence that the US is an unreliable ally and that Taiwan would be better off integrating more deeply into
RSS