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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hypersonic missile carried a simple message to the West over Ukraine: Back off, and if you do not, Russia reserves the right to hit US and British military facilities. Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Thursday in what Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles. In a special statement from the Kremlin just after 8pm in Moscow that day, the Russian president said the war was escalating toward a global conflict, although he avoided any nuclear
Would China attack Taiwan during the American lame duck period? For months, there have been worries that Beijing would seek to take advantage of an American president slowed by age and a potentially chaotic transition to make a move on Taiwan. In the wake of an American election that ended without drama, that far-fetched scenario will likely prove purely hypothetical. But there is a crisis brewing elsewhere in Asia — one with which US president-elect Donald Trump may have to deal during his first days in office. Tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have been at
US President-elect Donald Trump has been declaring his personnel picks for his incoming Cabinet. Many are staunchly opposed to China. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Trump’s nomination to be his next secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, said that since 2000, China has had a long-term plan to destroy the US. US Representative Mike Waltz, nominated by Trump to be national security adviser, has stated that the US is engaged in a cold war with China, and has criticized Canada as being weak on Beijing. Even more vocal and unequivocal than these two Cabinet picks is Trump’s nomination for
An article written by Uber Eats Taiwan general manager Chai Lee (李佳穎) published in the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Tuesday said that Uber Eats promises to engage in negotiations to create a “win-win” situation. The article asserted that Uber Eats’ acquisition of Foodpanda would bring about better results for Taiwan. The National Delivery Industrial Union (NDIU), a trade union for food couriers in Taiwan, would like to express its doubts about and dissatisfaction with Lee’s article — if Uber Eats truly has a clear plan, why has this so-called plan not been presented at relevant
RSS