The government is documenting its experiences with China’s alleged attempts to interfere in elections next week and is to publish its analysis soon after the vote, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Wednesday.
The government has pointed to military and economic pressure, as well as Chinese-subsidized trips to China for local Taiwanese officials, as evidence of Beijing’s interference ahead of the presidential and legislative elections on Saturday next week.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has called the elections “purely an internal Chinese matter” and that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is trying to call any kind of interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait election interference.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“The Chinese regime has made no bones about the purpose of its military coercion and trade manipulation. The message is clear: Taiwan’s voters must reject the ruling Democratic Progressive Party ticket of [Vice President William] Lai (賴清德) and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), or else,” Wu wrote in the latest issue of The Economist. “The bluntness of the language shows that the government in Beijing is not afraid of being seen as a player in Taiwan’s national elections.”
Beijing is attempting to convince a minority of swing voters by “taking advantage of Taiwan’s openness,” flooding voters with disinformation and inviting grassroots officials on China tours, he wrote.
“In a tight race like this one, and with the concerted effort the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is making, it might just get its way,” he wrote.
However, Wu said that Taiwan is taking measures to counter this interference and is documenting its experiences, with analysis to be published shortly after the elections “in consultation with international experts.”
“Should China succeed in shaping the outcome of voting in Taiwan, it will apply the same tactics to other democracies to promote its preferred international order,” Wu wrote. “Democratic countries should never let this happen.”
He urged the international community to pay more attention to China’s efforts to undermine Taiwan’s democracy through influence and disinformation campaigns, as well as hybrid warfare, including cyberattacks — especially as Taiwan’s elections are just one of more than 40 to take place this year.
“Our desire is to turn Taiwan’s experience into a positive contribution to the rules-based international order, thereby helping the free world’s fight against authoritarian powers bent on eroding democratic systems,” Wu wrote. “It is our belief that democracy will prevail.”
Yesterday, the TAO in a statement responding to DPP accusations of election interference said that such attacks were the DPP’s “usual trick” in elections to shift the focus of attention away from the party’s own problems.
“These dirty and lame tricks are used too much, and they will only make themselves become a laughingstock,” it said.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
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