China is stepping up cognitive warfare against Taiwan, as its United Front Work Department develops a specialized misinformation task force, a national security official said.
China is currently holding the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an annual gathering of the Chinese government known as the “two sessions.”
United Front Work Department head Shi Taifeng (石泰峰) has convened a specialized task force aimed at spreading misinformation about the situation in Ukraine and Taiwan’s semiconductor investments in the US, a national security source said on condition of anonymity.
Photo: Reuters
Spreading this wave of misinformation is a top priority for Beijing, the source cited Shi as saying at the “two sessions.”
As China is highly uncertain of US President Donald Trump’s evolving policies, it must “make Taiwanese people doubt the US and hate Trump, and ensure divisions within Taiwan run long and deep,” he said, according to the source.
The goal of the operation is to “make sure no one in Taiwan trusts the US,” he reportedly said, calling for all government agencies to mobilize and “treat this as a real battle.”
This new wave of cognitive warfare aims to spread narratives that Trump wants to sell out Taiwan, that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co would become American and that Taiwan would ultimately fail against China, the source said.
These narratives are to be spread rapidly by Chinese state media, social media platforms and a network of fake accounts and cooperative media outlets in Taiwan, they said.
National security agencies have already noticed suspicious accounts spreading this misinformation in recent days, the source added.
China’s Ministry of State Security has proposed exploiting divisions over Trump within Taiwan to deepen internal conflict, another national security official said.
It also proposed to spread Taiwanese criticism of Trump and on X and other English-language social media platforms to make Trump think Taiwanese are attacking him, sowing discord in Taiwan-US relations, the official said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS