Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.”
Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute.
Photo: AFP
When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan University, a student asked him about Taiwan.
“The time is ripe to solve the ‘Taiwan question’ as China’s economy is steamrolling Taiwan, which is now more like a Chinese province,” Zhang said. “Taiwan’s economy depends heavily on exports to China, especially semiconductors and electronic goods, while China could actually buy less from Taiwan.
“We know that many young Taiwanese like to use Xiaohongshu and other Chinese social media, so they are coming under China’s influence,” he said. “So when China unifies [with] Taiwan, it will be easier to govern than Hong Kong.”
Chiu said that Xiaohongshu and Douyin (抖音) — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its “united front” propaganda.
“We ask people to be very careful when using these Chinese apps, since there are dangers of breaches of personal data and the implanting of pro-China viewpoints and messages,” he said. “Due to these dangers, schools must recognize this issue and provide media literacy lessons for students who use these Chinese apps to prevent them becoming targets of China’s ‘united front’ tactics.”
In other cross-strait news, the Straits Forum, an annual conference between China and Taiwan that started in 2009, is to be hosted by China’s Fujian Province next month.
The MAC has prohibited central government officials from participating and has recommended that local government officials “not attend” — a change of tone from past statements of “not wanting to see” Taiwanese officials attending.
When asked about it yesterday during a radio interview, Chiu said: “It was suggested that it would be better to issue a direct ban, to avoid confusion, as local governments told us that the wording ‘not wanting to see’ is too ambiguous, as China continues to invite our officials to attend the forum.”
Chiu said Taiwan and China still maintain some level of interaction, even though official dialogue has stalled.
Interactions with China are carried out in line with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), he said.
Chiu made the comments after Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Frank Wu (吳豊山) on Wednesday last week said that while “cross-strait dialogue is suspended, channels for passing messages remain open.”
Chiu said that Wu was simply stating the facts and expressing hope that both sides of the Taiwan Strait could resume dialogue, which was cut off in 2016.
When asked about an incident in which a group of Chinese visitors posed for a selfie with a People’s Republic of China national flag during a visit to Taiwan, Chiu said they were a group of Chinese students from Macau.
A National Immigration Agency official on Sunday said on condition of anonymity that the students were visiting Taiwan for a concert, but they photographed themselves holding the Chinese national flag in Taiwan and posted the photos online in a deliberate provocative move.
The agency has sent warnings, the official said, adding that further applications to visit Taiwan would be strictly reviewed.
Additional reporting by CNA
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS