A deceased chairman and the secretary-general of the pro-unification Concentric Patriotism Association are suspected of having received funds from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) to develop the association and attack democracy advocates in Taiwan.
The two officials were charged with contraventions of the National Security Act (國家安全法). Chou Ching-chun (周慶峻), the former chairman, died of an illness last year, while secretary-general Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) is still on Taiwan’s wanted list after she absconded to China.
However, before slipping out of Taiwan, Zhang told prosecutors about the association’s inner workings, including how Chou had received funds from the TAO and its branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and the provinces of Guangdong and Hubei, and how he had recruited immigrant Chinese spouses to the association.
Moreover, Zhang in 2018 contested an election for Taipei city councilor.
This is a clear example of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) takes advantage of Taiwan’s democracy to infiltrate social strata and instigate people to contest elections, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. With Taiwan’s nine-in-one local government elections scheduled for Nov. 26, the major political parties are in the process of nominating their candidates. As the election mood heats up, signs of interference by the CCP are also appearing.
Members of the radical Concentric Patriotism Association, which is generally seen as being pro-CCP, are often on the streets waving China’s five-star red flag and playing its national anthem. The association has collaborated with the CCP’s overseas propaganda by verbally attacking organizations and individuals who have been politically labeled by China.
The association has been known to violently attack democracy advocates from Hong Kong who visit Taiwan. It has also targeted the embassies and representative offices of nations friendly to Taiwan.
Last month, China became furious after Japan announced that it would station a defense attache at the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei. First, officials in Beijing issued verbal threats, then Chinese media joined in the chorus, and, less than two days after the initial announcement, the Concentric Patriotism Association and other pro-unification groups protested outside the Japan office in Songshan District (松山).
A national security official described the campaign as the “trifecta model” of intimidating Taiwan and called such groups the most overt fifth column, working with the CCP — which they rely on — to undermine national interests.
Ironically, democracy in Taiwan, with its safeguards of openness, has become a training ground for the CCP and its allies to destroy democracy.
National security experts say that the policy positions and actions of pro-unification groups are too blatant for them to be the CCP’s principal tool in the fight against democracy, and it has pursued a policy of “united front” work against “natural independence” by offering inducements to young people and grassroots social groups.
National security departments expect that China will probably mobilize young people to stand as village and borough wardens in November’s elections, either as minor-party candidates or as independents. They can be portrayed as “political novices” with no affiliation to a major party. On the surface, such candidates would seem different from the “red unificationist” candidates promoted by the pro-unification groups, having been repackaged to appeal to the media.
As for elections for mayors, county commissioners and councilors, the idea would be to create disinformation and use other tactics to interfere with the elections and promote China-friendly candidates.
Compared with presidential and legislative elections, where the focus tends to be on major issues such as foreign relations, including cross-strait ties, local elections are fought in relative isolation by county, city or electoral district, which gives the CCP more scope for manipulation. China’s maneuvers made considerable progress in Taiwan’s last round of local elections in 2018.
Local elections are easier to manipulate than national-level elections, so the CCP will certainly not be “absent” from this year’s nine-in-one campaigns.
Addressing a seminar held by London-based think tank Policy Exchange on Monday last week, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said he was worried that China would use pro-unification propaganda offensives to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty without resorting to force of arms.
This was the biggest risk for Taiwan, Pompeo said.
Specifically, the focus was not on a Chinese naval invasion or marines landing in Taiwan, but on China taking a similar approach to the one by which it took control of Hong Kong, whereby as soon as it takes control of power, Taiwan would in effect become a part of China, with its sovereignty whittled away within a few years, he said.
Pompeo’s warning should ring alarm bells. Taiwanese have rejected Beijing’s proposal for a Hong Kong-style “one country, two systems” model, but it is vital that they be aware of the way in which the CCP has gradually infiltrated Hong Kong, first by influencing business and the media to create favorable public opinion, and then intervening in grassroots elections, such as those for district councils, where interpersonal contacts are what really counts. This pattern is not new to Taiwanese.
China has stepped up its economic threats against Taiwan, first banning imports of Taiwanese groupers, alleging that it found residues of banned substances, and then, without producing any evidence, claiming to have detected SARS-CoV-2 on the packaging of frozen ribbonfish, horse mackerel and mangoes.
As well as stirring up conflict between the government and Taiwanese, this tactic also intended to undermine the Democratic Progressive Party government and paint a picture that Taiwan was facing a severe COVID-19 outbreak, with the virus turning up everywhere.
The governments of Macau and Hong Kong have also been involved in disrupting normal trade activities, claiming that mangoes imported from Taiwan were tainted with the virus and destroying the fruit.
These were political statements by Hong Kong and Macau, highlighting that they have no autonomy.
China has adopted “strategic clarity” regarding Taiwan, while Hong Kong and Macau are part of “one China” that no longer allows for “two systems.”
However, Taiwan still refers to the Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例) when dealing with those territories separately from China. Does this create a loophole in national security?
On Wednesday last week, the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center issued a notice saying that China is waging a campaign to influence state, local, indigenous and business leaders amid rising US-China tensions, and that these operations have “become more aggressive and pervasive.”
The notice said that China’s goal is to advance US policies that are favorable to China while reducing criticism of Beijing’s policies toward Taiwan and other issues such as the human rights situations in Tibet and Xinjiang.
All this shows how Beijing’s modus operandi against democracies is to first penetrate local and peripheral circles, and then influence the central government’s decisions.
Taiwan is another target for this strategy. Rather than an “external threat,” it would be more accurate to simply call this a “threat,” because this enemy has been here for a long time.
Although the Nov. 26 elections are for local governments, their importance should not be overlooked. Beijing is treating them as a major maneuver and a test of the success or failure of its interventions, which might even have implications for its regional rivalry with the US.
Taiwanese should be vigilant and the government should employ stronger measures to prevent interference in elections.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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