Lawmakers have called on the National Security Bureau to investigate claims of pervasive Chinese influence among Aboriginal communities.
Legislators pointed to a surge in communist propaganda and Chinese-funded projects over the past few years, which they say are aimed at infiltrating and buying political influence among Aboriginal communities.
“China has for decades carried out wide-ranging ‘united front’ tactics and propaganda campaigns targeting Aborigines,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a member of the Puyuma community in Taitung County. “Now, they are influencing elections for local councilors and village chiefs, offering money for candidates to mount their campaigns, and to establish a network of Aboriginal friends and influencers.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The bureau has found that China has used its “united front” strategies to garner influence, with all-expense-paid trips, Chinese companies helping to finance Aboriginal businesses, subsidies for Aboriginal farmers traveling to China for business, establishing “Taiwan agricultural trade emporiums” in China, donating to Aboriginal youth programs, financing school lunch programs, and funding harvest festivals and traditional events, Chen said.
“There are financial rewards for Aborigines going to China to engage in traditional crafts and farming for specialty crops, helping to set up and fund Aboriginal organizations in Taiwan, which serve as conduits for China to influence local villages and people,” she said.
“Chinese money has paid for fleets of ambulances and small buses for Aboriginal communities, under the names of Aboriginal lawmakers and local politicians,” she added.
During election campaigns, some local organizations take trips to tour China, with the participants paying only for airfare, while the Chinese government foots the rest of the bill as a way to “buy voter support,” Chen said.
Another method is for the Chinese government to instruct Taiwanese businesspeople based in China to make large political donations to certain candidates of the pan-blue camp, she added.
Chen demanded the bureau investigate these cases of Chinese money being used to support Beijing’s preferred candidates and influence elections in Aboriginal districts.
DPP Legislator Saidai Tarovecahe, a Rukai, said that China has made serious “united front” efforts over the past 20 years.
“I know it is very common for Aboriginal politicians and officials to take trips to China, including local district office staff, township mayors, village chiefs, county councilors, non-governmental organization executives and community leaders,” she said.
“Some go to China for to sell products, others for education and to tour Chinese universities, and also to create celebrity figures out of Aboriginal youths... China has donated buses and ambulances, painted with slogans, such as: ‘We are one family across the Strait,’” she said.
“We have also seen politicians working on behalf of China, who head into Aboriginal communities after natural disasters, handing out cash to local people, and doing many things to bolster ties with Aborigines,” she added.
Bureau officials said that China has programs targeting all 16 officially recognized Aboriginal peoples.
The Chinese government includes Taiwanese Aboriginal communities among China’s 56 ethnic minority groups, although it has said during UN forums that China does not have indigenous people, only ethnic minorities.
China’s propaganda efforts have been most successful in growing political influence among Taiwan’s Aborigines, bureau officials said.
They listed seven major tactics used by China: business incentives and procurement, funding and donations, cultural exchanges, promoting China as the “motherland” for Taiwanese youth, China-centric news and social media, political lobbying, and academic collaboration and scholarships for Aboriginal students.
“Through these seven schemes, all Taiwanese are subjected to Chinese ‘united front’ infiltration tactics and its influence, while Aborigines are especially targeted,” officials said.
In the past few years Aboriginal communities were invited to take tours in China, which provided NT$20,000 for each participant, and additional Chinese funding has poured into these communities to consolidate ties with traditional community leaders and promising up-and-coming youth, they said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their