“Taiwan is bracing for a surge in Chinese influence operations ahead of upcoming elections,” a Financial Times (FT) report published on Sunday said.
Experts have called the hacking of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Web site on Tuesday last week the “latest sign of Beijing’s willingness to exert power beyond its borders,” the report said.
Hackers altered the contents of the dpp.org.tw Web site to display messages in simplified Chinese such as “Chinese netizens for re-electing Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)” and “The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is next.”
DPP spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said at the time that attacks against the party’s Web site have increased in the run-up to the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24.
“China’s desire to influence electoral outcomes in a manner that favors Beijing is hardly different than Russia’s use of cyber means to attain outcomes more favorable to the Kremlin in Crimea or the US,” Lauren Dickey, a Washington-based Taiwan analyst and King’s College London researcher, said in the FT report.
Taiwan is now “on the front lines of cyberwarfare, with hackers trying to steal information and spreading fake news to create dissent in Taiwan society,” the report quoted a spokesperson for Tsai as saying, adding: “Taiwan will become a global hotspot for cyberattacks and fake news.”
“China’s tougher approach comes as Xi Jinping (習近平), China’s president, acted nationalistically in response to domestic economic problems and closer ties between the US and Taiwan,” Willy Lam (林和立), a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in the report.
China is “turning to more overt measures and away from this old [former Chinese leader] Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) axiom of ‘keep a low profile’” when it comes to foreign policy, Lam added.
“Taiwanese cyber security officials said 90 percent of serious hacking attacks on government departments came from China,” the report said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2