Wed, Jun 21, 2023 page2

• Think tank urges laws to deter Chinese influence

  ‘NEW MEDIA’: The Economic Democracy Union said Beijing uses summits and other events to recruit media workers in Taiwan, including social media influencers

  • By Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) must be amended to counter Beijing’s influence campaigns that target Taiwanese digital media platforms to promote unification with China, the Economic Democracy Union said yesterday.

  Lo Tzu-wei (羅子維), a researcher at the think tank, told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning (王滬寧) said that this year’s Straits Forum should partially replace last month’s Cross-Strait Media People Forum, which was canceled amid a lack of interest in Taiwan.

  Although the media summit failed to materialize this year, high-ranking Chinese officials at previous editions urged Beijing’s friends in Taiwanese media to help realize the peaceful unification of Taiwan with China, Lo said.

  

  From left, Economic Democratic Union members Ou Hsu-shao, Lo Tzu-wei and Chen Fang-yu, an assistant professor at Soochow University, hold placards at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

  Their actions showed that the media summit was used by Beijing to launch “united front” operations in Taiwan, he said.

  Beijing utilizes a plethora of events to recruit supporters in Taiwan’s media, and it has been targeting “new media” platforms and social media influencers in addition to traditional media, Lo said.

  Despite the demise of the media summit, China would continue its efforts to shape Taiwan’s information environment by infiltrating Taiwanese media, which Beijing considers to be a crucial component of its strategy to annex Taiwan, he said.

  Since March, Beijing has organized seven events throughout China under the pretext of “joint reporting activities” to lure members of the Taiwanese media to serve as agents of its propaganda, representatives of the Economic Democracy Union said.

  Beijing officials emphasized to Taiwanese attendees that they must take full advantage of live-streaming and video clips to promote China’s talking points, the representatives said, citing news releases and recorded comments from the events.

  Media partners were to explain the economic perks and opportunities that Taiwanese are offered in China, reduce the psychological distance between Taiwanese and Chinese, and to “sing the song of the Chinese dream in one voice,” the representatives said.

  Taiwan does not have the legislative tools it needs to deal with Beijing’s “native facilitators” operating in Taiwan, Soochow University assistant professor Chen Fang-yu (陳方隅) said.

  The law should be amended to include sanctions for media platforms that serve as proxies for the Chinese government or its affiliates, as well as transparency requirements for media partnerships and funding, Chen said.

  China is sure to bolster its media activities focused on Taiwan ahead of next year’s elections, the Economic Democracy Union said, adding that the authorities must counter its messages.

  The government must inform the public about the nature and purpose of Beijing’s influence campaigns to protect Taiwanese democratic institutions from subversion, it said.
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