Sun, Nov 12, 2023 page2

• Beijing increases coercion against Taiwan: experts

  ‘DANGEROUS INTERFERENCE’: China is ‘co-opting and amplifying the war v peace argument’ in a bid to affect Taiwan’s elections, an academic told ‘Nikkei Asia’

  • By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA
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  Beijing is ramping up its coercion campaign against Taiwan in a bid to interfere with the general elections on Jan. 13, Nikkei Asia said in a report on Friday, citing policy experts.

  China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) recently described cross-strait relations as facing “two paths of peace and war,” while office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said that Taiwanese distinguish between “right and wrong” as they cast their ballots, the newspaper said.

  The comments echoed the platform of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which calls the elections a choice “between war and peace,” it said, citing experts.

  

  Representations of Chinese and Taiwanese flags are pictured in an illustration photograph taken on April 28 last year.

  Photo: Reuters

  The remarks by the Chinese officials came on the heels of threats by Beijing to pull out of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and broaden bans on imports of Taiwanese products, Nikkei Asia said.

  China has also sent an unprecedented number of jets and warships to conduct activities in areas surrounding Taiwan, it said.

  “Co-opting and amplifying the ‘war v peace’ argument, which is already established and promoted internally by one of Taiwan’s own political forces, is a direct and dangerous external interference in Taiwan’s political landscape ahead of the elections,” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien County, was quoted as saying.

  While the effectiveness of Beijing’s bid to paint a brighter future under KMT rule remains to be seen, Ferenczy said that the move is nevertheless “dangerous,” as China can “exploit a healthy but polarized political landscape and deepen existing divisions” in Taiwan.

  Experts and analysts interviewed by Nikkei Asia said that psychological warfare — aimed at fostering discontent against the Democratic Progressive Party among Taiwanese and encouraging skepticism of US commitments to support the nation — is a “core part” of Beijing’s strategy.

  Taiwan Information Environment Research Center codirector Yu Chih-hao (游知澔) was cited as saying that Chinese state media and affiliated accounts across Chinese-language platforms have been spreading disinformation and narratives that serve Beijing’s interests since 2020.

  Chinese online trolls have focused on attacking the credibility of Taiwan’s defense capabilities and the Taiwan-US partnership, Yu said.

  Beijing has persistently sowed baseless narratives alleging that the US is developing biological weapons in labs around the world and that Taiwanese leaders are planning to abandon the nation if China invades, he said.

  “When combined with other [Chinese] information manipulation and domestic political talk, these accusations create an alternative worldview that the US is sacrificing and destroying its allies — Ukraine and Taiwan — for its own benefit,” he said, adding that they “obstruct reasonable public debate on Taiwan’s foreign policy.”
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