China launched 1.4 billion cyberattacks against Taiwan from September 2019 to August 2020, a new report by a Japanese government-funded think tank said.
The attacks largely aimed to spread disinformation in Taiwan, with its authors assessing China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan to be a “great threat,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense-affiliated Defense Research Institute said on Friday.
The institute has published its China Security Report annually since 2011. This year’s report focused largely on cognitive warfare.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has been undertaking large-scale reforms since 2015, including the establishment of regional command centers for its land, sea and air forces, and increasing direct participation in military affairs by party members, the report said.
They also included setting up an army intelligence-gathering wing that engages in cyber and cognitive warfare, it said.
The new division disseminates propaganda and disinformation through traditional and social media platforms. It focuses heavily on promoting Taiwan’s unification with China, which it does prior to elections in Taiwan by assisting the campaigns of pro-China candidates, the report said.
The cyberattacks were intended to destroy or steal data from Taiwan’s political, economic and military institutions, and to sow panic among Taiwanese during China’s navy and air force exercises around the nation, it said.
China has also created fake news stories purported to be from Taiwan, in attempts to damage Taiwan’s international reputation, it said.
For example, in April 2020, China disseminated a false news story in which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused Taiwan of racial discrimination, and then tried to make it appear that Taiwan itself had created the story, it said.
China also uses its media outlets to produce propaganda aimed at lowering morale and causing fear among Taiwanese, it said.
For example, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Chinese state-run tabloid published a report that said the US’ failure to commit troops to Ukraine’s defense should be seen as evidence that it would also not commit troops to defend Taiwan.
The report also provided examples of former Taiwanese politicians and military officials being employed by China for espionage.
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
The Pentagon is preparing for US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved in the talks. US administration officials anticipate McCarthy would visit Taiwan some time in the spring, the report said. McCarthy had previously pledged to visit Taiwan if he became House speaker. He was elected speaker earlier this month. He had also said that he would have liked to join then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegation when she visited Taiwan in August last year. Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taipei marked the first time in 25 years
Taiwan’s Chou Chieh-yu (周婕妤) was crowned the Kamui WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Champion after shutting out British pool titan Allison Fisher 9-0 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the organizers said on Sunday. Following the championship win at Harrah’s Resort and Casino Atlantic City, Chou pocketed US$30,000 and became the first female competitor to hold both the 9-ball and 10-ball world titles since Briton Kelly Fisher in 2012. Chou, 36, won the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Austria in September last year after clinching a silver medal at last year’s World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, in July. “I’m very excited and it’s like
JOINT OPERATIONS: Participating in the IMET program, which offers professional training and education to military personnel, would boost Taiwan’s defense capabilities The US government is appropriating funding to help Taiwan participate in its International Military Education & Training (IMET) program to enhance interoperability and capabilities for joint operations of the Taiwanse and US militaries. The funding for Taiwan’s participation in the program is mentioned in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023, a US$1.7 trillion spending bill funding the US federal government for the fiscal year 2023. It covers funding for military support for Ukraine, defense spending and regions affected by natural disasters. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that IMET is an important US
RSS