The Chinese government has signed one-month contracts with Paraguayan media outlets to promote negative coverage of Vice President William Lai’s (賴清德) visit next week to the South American country, as it seeks to discredit Taiwan and affect its presidential election in January, national security sources said on condition of anonymity.
That includes content supporting Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China, accusing Taiwan of hurting Paraguay’s stability and “welcoming” China for the sake of Paraguay’s advancement, they said on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) condemned the actions, calling them part of China’s “cognitive warfare to interfere” with Lai’s trip.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
“China has been bribing media over the past two weeks to release false reports that smear Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts in an attempt to suppress Taiwan’s diplomatic space,” it said in a statement.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Lai transits through the US, Beijing has mobilized the Alliance for China’s Peaceful Reunification and Chinese expatriates to protest, a national security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity, citing intelligence sources.
When Lai arrives in New York and San Francisco, Chinese demonstrators would stage rallies, while pro-Beijing ads would appear in local Chinese-language newspapers, they said.
At the same time, Beijing-controlled media in Taiwan are expected to generate skepticism about Lai as they attempt to frame the presidential election next year as a choice between war and peace, the official said.
In response to China’s announcement that it would hold military drills in the East China Sea from today, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is likely to stage its own response to Lai’s visit by making a show of the upcoming Eastern Theater Command’s annual exercise.
These drills’ purpose would be to interfere with Taiwan’s election and intimidate voters into choosing candidates preferred by Beijing, the ministry said.
The PLA’s deployment of warships and military aircraft near Taiwan were frequently conducted in conjunction with Beijing’s cognitive warfare efforts in mind, it said, adding that it uses false reporting to amplify the effect of the drills.
Its most likely course of action is to conduct a beefed-up version of its so-called “preparedness patrols” in April and send even more ships and airplanes near Taiwan, national security sources said.
Taipei is closely monitoring the PLA’s movements with the expectation that some display of military force would come with the exercise, they said.
“If China uses this [Lai’s trip] to take provocative action, it will be China that damages regional peace and security, not Taiwan or the United States,” MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told reporters.
Taipei-based diplomats were divided on China’s likely reaction, eight diplomatic and foreign security sources said.
One said Beijing’s and Washington’s bid to improve relations could temper China’s response.
However, a senior foreign security source said Beijing would have to put on a show of force given its angry denouncements of the trip.
“They have pretty much backed themselves into a corner and will have to do something,” the source told Reuters.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters and Wu Su-wei
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book