Since posting a warning in June that the Chinese government was paying Taiwanese content creators to travel to China to produce media coverage favorable to Beijing, YouTuber “Potter King” (波特王) has noticed a surge in content by Taiwanese influencers promoting Xinjiang under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule as an ideal travel and investment destination. This could be a disinformation threat to Taiwan.
These so-called “Xinjiang fever” videos and posts say that “foreign reports about concentration camps in Xinjiang” are nonsense, despite a 2022 UN report that concluded the Chinese state was responsible for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Chinese officials have also admitted the existence of numerous “re-education camps” aimed at cultivating the residents’ loyalty to China and eliminating so-called extremism, including advocating for independence.
During a 2014 politburo meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told state media to “tell the China story well,” adding that it “should be portrayed as a civilized country featuring a rich history, ethnic unity and cultural diversity, and as an Eastern power with good government, a developed economy, cultural prosperity, national unity and beautiful scenery.”
Xi’s instructions have been expanded to China’s propaganda. Even as the country is arresting and expelling journalists and foreigners who question its policies, China has introduced visa-free and incentive policies to attract foreign tourists, and encouraged locals and the private sector to invite businesspeople, academics and bloggers to see the country.
If foreigners tell a certain story that is favorable to China, including whitewashing the CCP’s image in its troubled regions of Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, and pushing against what it calls anti-China narratives, those messages could be highly promoted on Chinese media, resulting in views and revenue.
Late last year, the Australia Strategic Policy Institute published a report analyzing the output of more than 120 foreign influencers active on Chinese media platforms. The report found that China is offering these influencers access to its vast market in return for content that “create a unified choir of voices capable of promoting CCP’s narratives.”
Beijing aims to cultivate “foreign mouths,” which are seen as more appealing and credible than its domestic media, to speak up for China at home and abroad. Its ultimate goal is “to shield the CCP’s controlled culture, discourse and ideology from the dangers of foreign and free political speech, thereby safeguarding the party’s legitimacy,” the paper said.
China’s strategic efforts to shape the global information landscape are generating concerns across the international community. Cheng Lei (成蕾), an Australian journalist who was recently released after serving three years in prison in China, recently wrote an article to caution the world that China is a “locked paradise,” where prosperity and technological prowess help gloss over the abuses of authoritarianism.
“If you are a visitor, you can have a great time biking around the alleys, trying the food, talking to locals,” she said. “You forget that you are on a massive movie set, seeing a facade of freedom.”
At a US Taiwan Watch forum this month, Su Chiao-ning (蘇巧寧), an associate professor of communication, journalism and public relations at Oakland University, warned Taiwanese to raise awareness about those cognitive-warfare campaigns, which not only downplayed Beijing’s despotic rule in Xinjiang, but also attempt to influence opinions about Taiwan.
National security officials who monitor Chinese propaganda have found strategic manipulation of Taiwanese media content, including spreading disinformation related to “US skeptic” and “Lai-skeptic” — referring to President William Lai (賴清德) — arguments and encouraging political antipathy.
It is a tough challenge, but Taiwanese must see through these manipulation attempts and safeguard the country’s democracy and freedom of speech.
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