Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) yesterday morning testified about China's threats and coercion at a US congressional committee hearing, thanking “the US Congress and administration for [their] long-standing bipartisan support for Taiwan.”
The US Congress established the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) to monitor human rights and the development of rule of law in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and submit annual reports to the US president and Congress. Yesterday's CECC hearing was titled “Stand with Taiwan: Countering the PRC's Political Warfare and Transnational Repression.”
“In addition to growing military threats and economic coercion, the PRC’s political warfare against Taiwan has also escalated,” Fan said, speaking via video link.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
“Their tactics include manipulation of international laws, ‘united front’ work activities, espionage, infiltration and disinformation campaigns,” she said.
China has misinterpreted UN Resolution 2758 for “political propaganda in the international arena,” and “seeks to legitimize the use of force to annex Taiwan,” she said.
Fan said that “the planned car collision” targeting Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in the Czech Republic last year was part of a series of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) activities aimed at intimidating Taiwanese, warning of the cost they would have to bear if they dare to resist China, Fan said.
“According to our National Security Bureau [NSB], the number of spying activity indictments in 2024 was four times higher than in 2021, rising from 16 to 64,” she said, adding that targets include the military, the parliament, both the ruling and opposition parties and civic groups.
Regarding disinformation, the NSB reported that “messages with China’s influence” increased from 1.3 million in 2023 to 2.2 million last year, spread via newspapers, TV stations and social media platforms, Fan said, adding that the Global Taiwan Institute found that some media outlets received direct instructions from the China's Taiwan Affairs Office.
Moreover, a recent poll found that Taiwanese TikTok users are more likely to view China favorably and believe that a pro-US government is more likely to promote war, she said.
“United front” organizations in Taiwan, operated by the CCP, invite religious groups, village wardens and college students on heavily subsidized trips to China, Fan said.
These student-based activities “aim to integrate [college students] into China’s economy,” so that they “eventually come to view China’s politics and culture in a positive light,” she said.
The PRC has also recruited gangsters in Taiwan to create a nationwide network to import arms, and funds Taiwanese influencers to produce content in China that aligns with its political agenda, she said.
Following last year’s elections, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) led 17 legislators, almost one-third of the caucus, on a trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials, Fan said.
Shortly thereafter, the KMT, along with the Taiwan People’s Party, “rushed to push through a series of unconstitutional bills, prevented the national security legal amendments from proceeding to a first reading and froze or slashed the national defense budget without proper justification,” she said.
Saturday’s recall election against 24 KMT legislators shows that many Taiwanese believe “lawmakers have forgotten that the KMT used to be an anti-communist party,” she said.
China’s political warfare against Taiwan aims to “distort the world’s understanding of Taiwan by framing cross-strait conflicts as a domestic issue to isolate Taiwan,” erode Taiwanese’s confidence in the US and reduce Taiwanese’s confidence in their own government, leading them to ultimately disengage from politics, Fan said.
Taiwan is countering PRC interference through government-civil society cooperation, by raising the national defense budget to a record high and implementing a whole-of-society defense resilience strategy, she said, adding that the Ministry of Education is promoting relevant education materials for students.
However, “Taiwan alone will not be enough to deter China’s aggression,” she said.
“Standing with Taiwan, we can work together to protect our shared values, prosperity and the rules-based global order,” Fan said.
It is regrettable that China has continued to exert pressure on Taiwan, but Taiwan would not be intimidated, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said today in response to the hearing.
It has come to the attention of many countries that China is attempting to expand its influence and pressure, not only focusing on Taiwan, but also overseas Chinese dissidents and human rights activists, Lee said.
Taiwan’s stance on China’s political warfare is clear, Lee said.
Dialogue based on the principles of equality and dignity should be used to solve differences and facilitate orderly exchanges, she said.
The Executive Yuan urged Beijing to stop its harassment and maintain regional peace, stability and prosperity in a concerted effort with the international community.
In a separate hearing yesterday titled “United We Stand: Strategies to Counter PRC Economic Coercion Against Democracies,” the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party hosted discussions on US cooperation with regional allies, including Taiwan, Australia and Japan.
US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi displayed “freedom pineapple cakes, made by what in Taiwan are called freedom pineapples,” he said.
The CCP previously banned Taiwanese pineapples among a wave of import bans also affecting Australian wine and Japanese seafood, Krishnamoorthi said.
He then displayed a “join or die” graphic, showing the US as the head of a snake consisting of Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, the Solomon Islands and South Korea.
“If we operate together, we can fight Chinese coercion,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison testified at the hearing, saying that if the US does not rejoin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which it withdrew from in 2017, it must not allow China to join.
The first country that should be approved to join the CPTPP is Taiwan, he said.
Taiwan applied to join the trade group in 2021 but has yet to be admitted.
Additional reporting by Fion Khan
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