China is using local “agents” and intermediary organizations as a front in its cyberwarfare efforts against Taiwan, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research said in an article.
The report, carried by the Ministry of National Defense-affiliated think tank’s monthly gazette and authored by assistant researcher Wu Chun-te (吳俊德), compared Russia’s and China’s cyberwarfare tactics.
As opposed to Russia, which has spent an inordinate amount of time and resources to regain the US’ trust, China has no such problems and can utilize contacts cultivated by its long-running “united front” rhetoric and infiltration efforts, Wu said.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
Such efforts, aimed at Taiwanese temple organizations, communities and borough and village wardens, have turned them into “Chinese agents” or intermediaries, Wu said.
Having no language barrier in Taiwan, Beijing sends “fake news” to its intermediaries, who then circulate the information on social networks, such as Facebook and the Line messaging app, he added.
These efforts come in addition to buying Taiwanese-run Facebook pages and hiring local Internet celebrities to launch disinformation campaigns, he said.
Separately, National Taiwan University Department of Criminology assistant professor Shen Pao-yang (沈伯陽) said he has discovered that most online information management companies that run social media accounts are receiving “layered” subcontracts from China.
Most of the orders are subcontracts of subcontracts going up three or four layers and it is difficult to find the source without inquiries, Shen said.
However, most companies make private inquiries, as the intermediaries usually know whether the order came from Chinese sources, Shen added.
The companies are small, usually employing up to six people who work at the firms in addition to their regular jobs, Shen said.
Each firm handles many online fan pages and posts information gleaned from content farms or other fan pages, he said, adding that these groups are most prone to spreading “fake news.”
An analysis has found that the companies are mostly indirectly hired by the Chinese United Front Work Department and, occasionally, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Shen said.
There is no definitive proof that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is involved, Shen said.
The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday reiterated that any contact with the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government, the PLA, private Chinese organizations or individuals regarding political affairs contravenes the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
Offenders could be fined NT$100,000 to NT$500,000 and they could be fined repeatedly, the council said.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS