The National Security Bureau (NSB) identified nearly 100 suspicious account groups posting more than 9,000 divisive messages on social media following the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) earlier this month, NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said today.
This latest round of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cognitive warfare pushed the narrative that reunification would bring peace and skepticism about US support for Taiwan, he said.
The Legislative Yuan today invited officials to report on the impact of the Trump-Xi meeting on Taiwan’s diplomacy and national security.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Suspicious accounts have no normal friend connections or mutual follows, and post at set times, echoing CCP propaganda or media narratives, Tsai said, adding that regular public discourse is not flagged.
Upon discovering the posts, the NSB notified various agencies so they could issue clarifications, and reported directly to President William Lai (賴清德) on May 17, he said.
Following the Trump-Xi meeting, the US Department of State immediately said that its policy on Taiwan would not change, and neither would its arms sales to Taiwan, which helped to clarify various claims circulating online that the US would abandon Taiwan in a crisis, he said.
Lai then clarified that Taiwan wishes to maintain the “status quo,” and the main disruptor of regional peace and stability is the CCP, he added.
This latest round of cognitive warfare is using a three-pronged approach to prop up the fallacy that reunification with China would bring peace, Tsai said.
First, during cross-strait and political party exchanges, the CCP promotes its “one China” framework to suggest that failure to comply may result in military conflict, with the aim of intimidating Taiwanese, he said.
Second, the CCP is continuing to promote to the international community that both sides of the Taiwan Strait support peaceful reunification and that cross-strait affairs are an “internal” matter, seeking to isolate Taiwan from the world, he added.
Third, the CCP paints Taiwan as the “troublemaker,” insisting that arms sales to Taiwan are disrupting peace across the Taiwan Strait and causing regional instability, Tsai said.
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