As part of its “united front” tactics, China has been grooming young Taiwanese to become Internet celebrities or Internet program hosts, a source said on condition of anonymity.
Over the past year, about 1,000 Taiwanese living in China have participated in training programs and competitions for show hosts held in several cities, including Xiamen, Wenzhou and Hangzhou, the source said on Saturday.
“Beijing is taking advantage of the openness of the Internet to spread propaganda about acceptance of China, and about ‘national security,’” the source said, adding that Taiwan’s national security officials are racing to fix the problem.
Chinese infiltration of social media in Taiwan gained momentum in 2019, when it purchased several Taiwanese Facebook pages, and over the past two years it has been employing Taiwanese Internet celebrities to help spread propaganda, the source said.
One show host competition held in Xiamen in December last year — sponsored by the city and China’s Fujian Provincial Government — was part of a five-month program that started in August, and involved training courses and a summer camp, the source said.
A separate training program was held in Wenzhou in December by the city’s Chinese government-run Taiwanese entrepreneurship and employment center, they said.
The government of Zhejiang Province, where Wenzhou is located, has said that it would offer training to 1,200 young Taiwanese, including “at least 30 to host e-commerce” platforms, the source said.
The Hangzhou Taiwan Compatriots-Invested Enterprises Association last year started a three-year show host training program for 1,000 young Taiwanese, they said.
“Beijing has been trying to lure young Taiwanese to China for years now. Since the [COVID-19] pandemic put a halt to that, it has been expanding its Internet influence campaign,” the source said.
China’s motivation to train Internet celebrities and show hosts probably emerged after it ran into legal trouble trying to hire Taiwanese Internet celebrities, they said.
“Basically, Beijing believes that by employing young Taiwanese to spread its propaganda, other Taiwanese will listen,” the source added.
The Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), which was passed last year, has a very limited scope, and does not give authorities power to counter Chinese infiltration through the use of sensitive technology or Taiwanese media, the source said.
“Beijing knows the Internet is open, and Taiwan has no clear laws to counter Chinese infiltration through the Internet,” the source said. “Perhaps this is an area that could be regulated by a [proposed] ministry of digital development.”
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’: Any delay in the passage of the remaining funds would weaken Taiwan’s security and play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, the AIT said While welcoming the Legislative Yuan’s approval of a supplementary defense budget, the US Department of State said that further delays to Taiwan military spending are a “concession” to China. The remarks came after the legislature on Friday passed the budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of military equipment from the US, with total spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.82 billion). One package allocates NT$300 billion for arms sales approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, while the other sets aside NT$480 billion for an arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The
RSS