A recent report by Internet news outlet Aboluowang about underground Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members in Taiwan and Hong Kong requires further investigation to verify.
According to the China-based online encyclopedia Baidu Baike, “underground CCP members” — spies — refers to people conducting secret investigations, while someone who has infiltrated the enemy is called a “mole.” They gather secret information or conduct destructive activities within the enemy or competitor’s territory in order to benefit their own side.
During the revolution, the CCP body that conducted secret activities in the areas controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or Japan was referred to as the “underground party.”
The Aboluowang report has been widely disseminated on the Internet, but is it accurate? Hopefully, the people named will offer an explanation, as the suggestion that influential Taiwanese politicians and businesspeople are underground CCP members would have a major impact on the political situation that cannot be ignored.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) hopes to use Taiwan’s democracy to promote his representatives in next year’s presidential election and gain control of Taiwan’s presidency, change the government and complete his “Chinese dream.” He wants to do this with the help of cyberwarfare and false news reports with Taiwanese businesspeople paying the price.
A military attack on Taiwan could not occur without drawing the US into a conflict. Xi knows all too well that generalships in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are bought and sold, that the military is corrupt and that its combat abilities are weak. They cannot go to war now, and they cannot defeat the US military.
In his National Day address on Oct. 1, Xi pledged to remain firm on the “1992 consensus” and initiate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations. In his approach to Taiwan, he is adopting what is known in Sun Tzu’s (孫子) The Art of War (孫子兵法) as “breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
Over the past few years, the CCP has been buying “compradors” and attracting fellow travelers in Taiwan, using clever “united front” tricks to divide Taiwanese society and infiltrate government agencies and political parties.
One particularly clever trick has been to buy and take control of Taiwanese newspapers and TV stations, which allows the CCP to carry out its political manipulations and spread propaganda promoting the various ways it is “benefiting Taiwan.”
It also helps the CCP advance Xi’s “one country, two systems” strategy for Taiwan, brainwash the Taiwanese and influence the political situation.
In mid-September, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Busby issued a public warning, saying that the CCP is spending huge sums of money to destroy next year’s presidential election.
He said China has invested extensively in social media and other channels to develop even more complicated ways to anonymously spread fake news, interfere with the election and divide the public, all in an attempt to corrupt the democracy and freedom Taiwanese have worked so hard for so many years to achieve.
If the CCP has succeeded in turning well-known Taiwanese politicians and businesspeople into secret party members capable of reaching deep into Taiwan to destroy it, it could shake Taiwan to its foundations.
This is why it is so important that those accused of being secret members of the CCP come out and refute the claims.
Parris Chang is a former deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council and professor emeritus of political science at Pennsylvania State University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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