The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) is tracking the movement of money from foreign sources to prevent Chinese funds from being used to interfere in the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13, sources said yesterday.
The bureau’s Anti-Money Laundering Division is monitoring channels through which foreign money flows into Taiwan, such as underground remittance services, sources familiar with the matter said.
The effort is targeting offshore funding used to increase the click-through rate of online influencers, and support specific candidates and temple charity events, the sources said.
Photo: Reuters
Some online opinion leaders who have gained notoriety by commenting on political issues publish content that attacks Taiwan, or is pro-Beijing, unverified or controversial to gain assistance and donations from Chinese supporters, they said, adding that the actions support China’s “cognitive warfare” tactics.
The bureau is closely monitoring controversial online personalities or the marketing companies behind them to determine if they receive money from suspicious sources, they said.
When suspicious funding is detected, the agencies trace the money and provide cash transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports to help prosecutors investigate such cases, they said.
Chinese election-interference strategies also include buying advertisements through third parties in Taiwan, such as supporters’ associations and foundations, or using temple charity events as a pretense for vote-buying, they said.
Funding for such efforts might be transferred through underground remittance or money laundering schemes using cryptocurrencies, the sources said.
The bureau is working with local prosecutors to share information regarding such cases, they said.
Lo Cheng-chung (羅承宗), a professor and director of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology’s Institute of Financial and Economic Law, yesterday said that authorities should target “upstream” funding sources to prevent foreign actors from spreading disinformation through online influencers.
Regulations that have been put in place to prevent foreign actors from interfering in the nation’s radio, television and publishing industries cannot effectively regulate behavior on social media, Lo said.
A large amount of false information is spread online, preventing the public from receiving accurate and complete information, which poses a serious threat to democracy, he said.
France has passed legislation to fight online misinformation, while Germany has passed the Network Enforcement Act to combat false news online and the EU passed the Digital Services Act to protect the rights of digital users, which demonstrates the necessity for legislation to prevent disinformation, he said.
The Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act (證券投資信託及顧問法) has been amended to regulate online influencers creating content related to investments and holding online platforms accountable for fraud that harms investors, Lo said.
To combat disinformation, Taiwan should follow the example of the EU to require platform operators to be transparent and disclose where their funding comes from, which would reveal which influencers are “paid to talk,” he said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS