Beijing is using its “22 guidelines,” designed to punish “die-hard” Taiwanese independence separatists, to target active-duty Taiwanese military personnel, a cross-strait expert said yesterday.
Similar tactics by China intended to threaten or harm morale are expected to increase in the coming weeks ahead of Double Ten National Day next month, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said.
The Chinese Ministry of State Security on Monday posted a message on WeChat accusing a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of launching cyberattacks against China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year.
Photo: Reuters
The group was seeking to seize control of Web sites, electronic billboards, and other devices and platforms to spread disinformation to sow division in China and distrust in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the ministry said.
The ministry added that “Anonymous 64” is a front for the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, a claim the defense ministry denied.
The Chinese state security ministry also identified three people it said are members of the Taiwanese military, adding that it was investigating them for alleged involvement in the cyberattacks.
Beijing said the investigation was necessary to ensure that its anti-separatist guidelines are thoroughly implemented.
“This is a typical cognitive warfare tactic that China uses against Taiwan. Only this time, they are poisoning the well by pre-emptively claiming the hackers are from Taiwan,” Wu said. “It serves no other purpose than to confuse Taiwanese, affect their morale and cause them to lose trust in their government.”
The CCP’s tactics to punish advocates of Taiwanese independence have had a limited effect and are more a formality, Wu said.
“It is likely that these tactics were rolled out to influence what President William Lai (賴清德) would say in his Double Ten National Day address next month and pressure the Democratic Progressive Party government,” he said.
The government should closely watch whether the incident would serve as an example of how the CCP would incriminate Taiwanese for supporting Taiwanese independence, namely by distributing photographs of people that they allege have committed crimes without providing specific evidence, he said.
“The difference this time is that none of the three people are on the list of ‘die-hard’ separatists or have political influence. It shows that active-duty military personnel could be incriminated based on the anti-separatist guidelines,” he said.
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