Beijing is ramping up its cognitive warfare by aggregating negative news reports to stoke public discontent toward the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, security officials said on Tuesday.
By cherry-picking negative reports from Taiwanese media, then repackaging them and disseminating its version through new media, Chinese state media hopes to create the impression of widespread public discontent, officials said on condition of anonymity.
For example, China National Radio on Thursday last week aired a report that the Democratic Progressive Party government has been “selective” in its crackdown on misinformation to suppress news unfavorable to itself.
The state-run radio claimed that the government has only focused on clarifying negative stories about its handling of the pandemic, while turning a blind eye to its problems with response to the pandemic and vaccine procurement.
These comments were first broadcast on the new media platform “Watching the Taiwan Strait” (看台海) on WeChat, which is run by the state media company China Media Group, the officials said.
The platform aims to disseminate information across Chinese and foreign social media sites, including WeChat, Sina Weibo, Toutiao, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Similar reports were then published by Chinese and some Taiwanese media outlets, they said.
This reveals how Beijing is using the pandemic to wage cognitive warfare on Taiwan, they added.
State-run media aggregates Taiwanese reports assailing the government’s pandemic policy — such as vaccine procurement, distribution and protection of local vaccine producers — and spins them to create a misleading narrative of public discontent, they said.
It then disseminates these reports on popular sites, with sensational headlines to improve their credibility and virality, they added.
The Chinese Communist Party regards new media as a tool for spreading propaganda, the officials said, adding that all propaganda departments from the central to local level use WeChat, Douyin, Toutiao, Watching the Taiwan Strait and other platforms.
Through traditional and new media, the departments can disseminate large amounts of information that are helpful to daily life and propagandistic, they added.
State-run media also use foreign social media platforms to spread misinformation, such as reports of mass cremations in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), they said, urging Taiwanese to be alert to such false reports.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS