The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday vowed to investigate claims made in a YouTube video about China’s efforts to politically influence young Taiwanese and encourage them to apply for Chinese ID cards.
The council’s comments follow Saturday’s release of a video by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) and YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” on China’s “united front” tactics. It is the second video on the subject the pair have released this month.
In the video, Chen visits the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province and the Strait Herald news platform in Xiamen, China.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Strait Herald — owned by newspaper publisher Fujian Daily News, which is affiliated with the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — primarily focuses on issues related to Taiwan.
Strait Herald assistant director Lin Jingdong (林靖東), who is a member of the CCP, discussed in the video strategies used to influence young Taiwanese as a part of China’s “united front” tactics.
The tactics include “incubating” young Taiwanese through Taiwan-related organizations and collaborating with many small-scale influencers.
When Chen asked her about potentially running for public office, Lin said he should consider aligning with the New Party or the China Unification Promotion Party, but if he requires “organized” votes, he should align with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Chen also spoke with the head of the entrepreneurship park, Lin Jincheng (林金城), who said that within a month Chen could apply for a Chinese ID card, register a company in China and start a cross-border e-commerce business.
With a Chinese ID card, Chen could acquire property and vehicles in China without a down payment and use them as collateral to apply for bank loans, Lin Jincheng said in the video.
Due to Taiwan’s political situation, any Taiwanese who is a “compatriot” can apply for a Chinese ID card, they said.
The video said that about 2,000 Taiwanese living in Xiamen have Chinese ID cards and 4,000 Taiwanese are applying for household registration in the city.
More than 100,000 Taiwanese already have Chinese ID cards, and the number of total applicants has reached 200,000, the video said.
The video also said that some young Taiwanese “entrepreneurs” overborrow from banks, and then split the money with intermediaries and CCP officials before transferring the rest back to Taiwan.
The MAC said that the CCP offers benefits to Taiwanese under the guise of “cross-strait exchange,” in an effort to divide the nation and undermine its stability.
Under Article 9 of the Act Governing the Relations Between the People of Taiwan and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), “people of the Taiwan Area may not have household registrations in the Mainland Area or hold passports issued by the Mainland Area.”
Contraveners could have their Taiwanese household registration and citizenship revoked, and lose their right to participate in elections, recalls and referendums, serve in the military, and hold public office, it said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
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