A new study on the rising number of retired senior Taiwanese military officers who visit China concludes that retired officials of “mainland” heritage represent the constituency in Taiwan most likely to support unification and could serve as willing conduits for Chinese propaganda intended to manipulate public perceptions in Taiwan.
“Retired Taiwanese military officers have visited China in an individual capacity for many years,” writes John Dotson, a research coordinator on the staff of the congressionally mandated US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in the latest issue of the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief.
“More organized exchanges between retired Chinese and Taiwanese flag officers — initiated primarily from the Chinese side — have expanded significantly in scale since 2009, he added.
Although the Ministry of National Defense says it does not authorize such visits, it has done nothing to curb the practice, which has raised concerns among US -defense officials over the potential for leaks of sensitive military information or the creation of a back channel for secret negotiations.
A common thread in cross-strait officer exchanges, Dotson writes, is the sponsorship role of the Huangpu Academy Alumni Association, nominally a Chinese civic organization for graduates of the Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy.
However, the exchange program is actually a project of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department (UFWD), he writes.
“[The association] is a thinly disguised front organization operated by the UFWD. It is one of several entities identified by name on a United Front Work Department Web site as organizations managed by the UFWD,” Dotson writes.
The association also shares the same contact telephone number and address with an organization known as the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Unification, which describes itself as “a voluntary association of people from all walks of life who support reunification, with an independent legal status.”
“The role of the UFWD in -organizing the exchanges of retired Taiwanese military and intelligence personnel makes it clear that there is more going on than simple reminiscing over friendly games of golf,” he writes. “Chinese officials hope to use the exchanges to achieve a two-track set of goals.”
The first goal, he says, is to “influence opinion in Taiwan’s elite circles of national security policymaking in favor of closer relations — and eventual reunification [sic] — with China,” a facet of the program that has been explicitly acknowledged by CCP officials, he writes.
“The second major goal behind the exchanges is almost certainly an effort to glean information of intelligence value,” Dotson writes, adding that although they are no longer are in active service, retired generals and intelligence officials represent “a highly valuable source of potential information for Chinese intelligence collectors — on areas such as command and control relationships, contingency planning, the status of unit readiness and the personalities of senior officials — whether gained through direct recruitment, or more subtly through targeted elicitation.”
“The exchanges provide an illuminating look at some of the methods by which the CCP conducts intelligence collection and perception management operations directed at Taiwan, as well as its employment of front organizations that masquerade as civil society groups,” he writes.
The department will almost certainly continue to expand its outreach to retired Taiwanese officials, Dotson writes, adding that it will be up to Taiwan’s democratic process “to decide where to draw the line between individual rights of expression and travel in a free society and the national security restrictions required to maintain those same freedoms.”
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS