Voters in the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 26 did not regard the China issue as the most important concern when casting their ballots, despite Beijing’s best efforts. The Information Operations Research Group uncovered a lot of disinformation spread by China this year in its attempts to sway voters with its rhetoric on “war” and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disinformation regarding war might be more effective in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. In a report released on Saturday based on a review of more than 8 million Facebook posts, 6,000 news articles from Taiwan, 2,000 official releases from China regarding Taiwan affairs, 800,000 posts on Chinese social media and 50,000 TikTok videos this year found that “war” and “pandemic” were the two top issues involved when information was manipulated.
For example, a Facebook account titled “Headline across the Strait,” which the Investigation Bureau determined was funded by China, posted negative news reports targeting former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate for Taipei mayor.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and China held military drills surrounding Taiwan in August, research by the group showed that China tried to spread disinformation with headlines such as: “The Russia-Ukraine war happened due to Ukraine’s provocation, so Taiwan shouldn’t be provocative to China,” “Once war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, the US will abandon Taiwan” and “China holds drill, USS Ronald Reagan flees.”
This disinformation is obviously part of China’s cognitive warfare aimed at provoking the fear of war and increasing the tendency to capitulate.
More concerning is that some politicians and pro-China groups in Taiwan are echoing the rhetoric.
In last month’s elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and senior party figures such as former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) spread messages saying that “voting for the DPP could bring war, and supporting the KMT would ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait.”
Former UMC chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) admonished Ma, saying he was trying to brainwash the public to surrender without fighting and to sacrifice Taiwan to achieve Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Taiwan has endured China’s military threat for more than 70 years and has never been a threat to China, but Xi has made it clear that China will use all measures to annex Taiwan. There is no room for the Republic of China, nor for Taiwan’s sovereignty or freedom.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that “China is the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the power to reshape its region and the international order to suit its authoritarian preference,” adding: “Let’s make it clear. We won’t let that happen.”
Japan also plans to increase its national defense budget.
To avoid war takes wisdom and bravery. The government has shown reasonable restraint in the face of China’s provocation ranging from military threats to economic and diplomatic suppression. Boosting self-defense capability and military preparedness should be crucial strategies to deter the enemy from launching a war that will hurt both sides.
More international support could enhance Taiwan’s strength, but it is crucial that Taiwanese show a strong will to protect their homeland. This effort begins with stopping the spread of disinformation.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the
Many local news media last week reported that COVID-19 is back, citing doctors’ observations and the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) statistics. The CDC said that cases would peak this month and urged people to take preventive measures. Although COVID-19 has never been eliminated, it has become more manageable, and restrictions were dropped, enabling people to return to their normal way of life due to decreasing hospitalizations and deaths. In Taiwan, mandatory reporting of confirmed cases and home isolation ended in March last year, while the mask mandate at hospitals and healthcare facilities stopped in May. However, the CDC last week said the number