The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor.
The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference.
Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation.
Photo: AP
A national security official said that former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) members who served under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are to lead a delegation of Taiwanese investors to Xinjiang on Sept. 19.
China since last month has been arranging for business groups to tour the region in a move to evade international outcry over China’s use of forced Uighur labor and support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Beijing officials “encourage Taiwanese entrepreneurs to establish a presence or facilitate the flow of logistics through Central Asia,” the source said. “The purpose is to conceal the point of origin labels on their products and draw investments for cotton.”
Chinese Communist Party regional head Ma Xinrui (馬興瑞) is overseeing these activities, the official said.
Taiwanese investments might help Beijing’s efforts to stabilize its flagging economy, especially the real-estate sector and capital flows, they said.
State-affiliated studios produce content on daily life, consumer goods and tourism pushing narratives that deny instability in Hong Kong and mass incarceration of Uighurs in Xinjiang, they said.
These studios are followed by up to 130 million people on social media and the introduction of artificial intelligence allowed some to generate the same content in 40 to 50 languages, the official said.
On Tuesday, Oakland University associate professor of journalism and public relations Su Chiao-ning (蘇巧寧) told a conference in Washington that Taiwanese are being co-opted in Beijing’s cognitive warfare activities.
Beijing is accused of committing human rights abuses including torture, compulsory institutionalization and sexual violence against incarcerated Uighurs, Su said, citing a UN report on China’s alleged crimes of humanity dated 2022.
Travel content promoting the beautiful rustic landscape and simple honest folk of Xinjiang is flooding Taiwanese social media amid a violent Chinese campaign to wipe out the Uighur language and culture, she said.
The spread of propaganda created by the communist regime’s apologists is a dangerous trend for Taiwan, Su said, adding that the government must do more to promote public awareness about Beijing’s influence on media.
The MAC yesterday said there has been a significant rise in content produced by influencers designed to promote Xinjiang as an ideal destination for travel and investment.
“We are still trying to understand the real motives behind this so-called ‘Xinjiang fever,’” MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference.
Some of the promotional content about Xinjiang is attempting to whitewash Beijing’s human rights record in the region, Liang said.
“Due to human rights issues, clothes made from Xinjiang-grown cotton is now boycotted by many countries in the international community. Those seeking business opportunities there should be aware of the situation,” he said.
If Internet celebrities received funding from the Chinese government to produce videos or other content, they could be contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) for receiving instructions, sponsorships or petitions from hostile foreign forces to disrupt social order, disseminate false information and interfere in elections in Taiwan, he added.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS