Beijing-backed e-commerce training programs targeting young Taiwanese were geared toward spreading “united front” messages and inciting public opinions against the government, an academic said yesterday.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday said that Beijing has been training Taiwanese influencers for at least four years to leverage new media for “united front” propaganda.
Zhejiang Province has become a hub for the training and some influencers nurtured by the system have already attracted millions of followers on social media and e-commerce platforms, said an anonymous source.
Photo: AFP
The Hangzhou branch of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) ran a program from 2020 to 2022 to recruit and train 1,000 young Taiwanese on livestreaming, short video creation and commerce commentary, the source said.
Chinese provincial and municipal agencies in Wenzou, Hangzhou and Xiamen have organized cross-strait livestreamer contests in the past few years, they said.
Chinese media have reported that TAO headquarters last month ran an e-commerce training camp for Taiwanese in collaboration with the Wenzou TAO at the Zhejiang Industry and Trade Vocational College.
The six-day training camp offered courses on how to operate businesses using the Xiaohongshu (小紅書, or Rednote) app and create short videos, they reported.
A cross-strait youth innovation and entrepreneurship forum was held last year at the Wenzou-Taiwan Integrated Development and Youth Business Incubator in Zhejiang, which is one of the first cross-strait youth business incubators officially established by TAO headquarters, the source said.
Lecturers at the forum spoke about “strategies for effectively publicizing cross-strait integration and promoting peaceful reunification” to deepen understanding among Taiwanese of “cross-strait reunification’s benefits,” the source said.
In China’s Fujian Province, Beijing has set up a new media department at the Amoy North Railway Station Taiwan Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurial Base and recruited teachers to train Taiwanese, they said.
The Xiamen Cross-Strait Youth Live-Stream and E-Commerce Employment and Entrepreneurship Incubator was founded by the local government in Xiamen’s Jimei District based on the previous Cross-Strait Youth Internet Celebrity Anchor Competition, they said.
In Fujian’s Lianjiang County, a cross-strait youth training program on livestreaming and e-commerce started last year, with a focus on online image building and live commerce operations, the source said.
Aside from training programs run by Chinese agencies, a youth entrepreneurship mentor certification training workshop was held in Fuzhou this year, organized by the Communist Youth League of China’s Fuzhou Committee, they said.
The workshop trained Taiwanese how to open accounts on short video platforms and construct their personal online image, the source added.
Lo Cheng-chung (羅承宗), a professor at the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology’s Graduate Institute of Science and Technology Law, said that cross border e-commerce has become a weapon for Beijing to recruit Taiwanese influencers.
By utilizing the e-commerce system, Beijing can train Taiwanese at scale and at low cost, while exporting Beijing’s “united front” thinking to Taiwan and the world through their content, Lo said.
Although live commerce has a mature market in China, it is unlikely to attract overseas markets with content presented by Chinese influencers, Lo said.
Taiwanese influencers would not only facilitate overseas sales, but would also be “tamed,” as cross-border e-commerce provide a substantial income if they handle the business well, he said.
Commerce commentary by Taiwanese can “work as a commercial weapon in ordinary days and turn into a military weapon in wartime,” Lo said.
Chinese political propaganda slipped into the presentations would affect the political views and judgements of Taiwanese, he said.
That is why Beijing is training young Taiwanese on e-commerce, Lo said, adding that many young people might be misled and help incite public opinion against the government.
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