A panel of defense experts on Thursday called for an Indo-Pacific initiative to combat disinformation, including efforts directed by Beijing.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue, a virtual conference hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lieutenant General Liu Te-chin (劉得金) said that disinformation is in China’s arsenal of “fourth-generation warfare” tools to use against Taiwan.
Fourth-generation warfare — a term used by US defense analysts in the 1980s — describes methods of conflict that blur the lines between war and politics.
China’s application of the idea includes demoralizing propaganda, Web-based disinformation, confrontations at sea and in the air, and manufactured disputes, said Liu, who is inspector-general of the Ministry of National Defense.
Steadily escalating “gray zone” conflict is aimed at diminishing trust in Taiwan’s government, he said.
Taiwan has improved its multiagency coordination, civil-military cooperation, information verification and partnerships with foreign states, he said.
The military has prepared mechanisms for rapid response and strategic communication, he added.
Taiwan has unique insight into China’s disinformation techniques that other countries lack, said Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Malicious influence campaigns are being directed against countries around the world, and governments could benefit from Taiwan’s wisdom and experience, Lin said.
The international community must join forces to honestly discuss the problem of disinformation and educate people to counter its effects, she said.
The fast-growing economies and fragile democracies of the Indo-Pacific region are vulnerable to online foreign meddling, said Jacob Wallis, head of information operations and disinformation at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Countries in the region should create a forum or platform to defend their societies against targeted disinformation campaigns, Wallis said.
Such a forum should be open to experts working in academia and the private sector, not just government officials, he said, adding that it is needed to make governments more agile in their response to threats.
In related news, a military source yesterday said that two Chinese People’s Liberation Army vessels were identified off Taiwan’s east coast over the past two days.
A Chinese missile frigate was spotted 40 nautical miles (74km) off Hualien County at about 3am on Thursday, presumably heading south into the Bashi Channel, the source said.
Another frigate was detected about 24 hours later about 116 nautical miles off Green Island (綠島), the source added.
The second frigate sailed out of radar range at about noon yesterday, the source said, without saying which direction it was headed.
It was unclear why the ships were navigating so close to Taiwan, the source added.
Patrol ships from the 131st Fleet in Keelung were deployed on both occasions to monitor the frigates, the source said.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) declined to comment on the report, saying only that the military constantly monitors military activities near Taiwan.
Additional reporting by CNA
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS