Academics urged the government to take action against China’s use of misinformation to interfere in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one local elections and Taiwanese politics, with one suggesting that “anti-united front” legislation be drafted.
There is no doubt that China has an “Internet army,” Taiwan Think Tank consultant Tung Li-wen (董立文) said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused the Chinese government of using its Internet army to interfere in the US midterm elections, and now, Beijing is directing its Internet army to meddle in local elections and to attack the government and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with a barrage of misinformation, he said.
The US and Germany have introduced legislation to stop the spread of misinformation, while, France, India, and the UK have formed parliamentary committees to respond to such tactics, he said.
Taiwan can no longer rely on the self-discipline of the media and freedom of speech is no excuse to let misinformation go unchecked, he said.
China has almost completely taken control of Hong Kong’s government and media, and is attacking young supporters of the Umbrella movement, National Cheng Kung University political science professor Leung Man-to (梁文韜) said.
It has extended its meddling into the Taiwanese elections and manipulated Professional Technology Temple (PTT) — the nation’s largest online academic bulletin board system — and other popular local online forums, he said.
The 2014 Sunflower movement was an example of the younger generation using the Internet to resist the party-state system, he added.
The Chinese government has learned how opposition forces in Taiwan operate and invested in large numbers of “Internet forces” on PTT to control the platform, and influence younger and independent voters, he said.
To attack the DPP government, China is, on the one hand, releasing false information to undermine the government’s authority, while, on the other hand, increasing its own popularity online, he said.
It is easy for young people who are not usually interested in politics to fall into the trap and follow the trend, he said.
When people encounter false information and do not know whether it is true or false, they usually choose to believe it, he said, adding that even if the government later clarifies the facts, the public might not take notice.
Another way that the Chinese government achieves its goals is by using “fake opinions” to boost the popularity of specific Taiwanese candidates, garnering the support of voters who do not usually engage in politics, he said.
Although people determine for themselves whether any information is true or false, the government must still take a stance, he said.
It should draw up an “anti-united front act” to resist the spread of misinformation from China, he said, adding that the DPP, which has a majority in the Legislative Yuan, cannot simply denounce Chinese suppression and ask for sympathy.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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