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.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS