Taiwan Election: As Taiwan inches closer to electing its next president there has been a marked increase in the Chinese cyber spoofing and disinformation campaign. Less than a month from now, on 13th January 2024, Taiwan goes for its national elections. Currently led by Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who will complete her second full tenure as president and as per Taiwan’s constitution cannot contest any further. Known to hold a strong line for Taiwanese sovereignty, she and her party are mostly seen as taking a tough line against China.

In the current general elections, three candidates are in the fray, Lai Ching-te of DPP popularly known as William Lai, Hou Yu-ih, current mayor of New Taipei of Kuomintang (KMT) and Ko Wen-je of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The fourth independent and eligible candidate Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou and the founder of Foxconn dramatically dropped out on 24th November in a last-minute call. Opinion polls have projected DPP candidate William Lai who is campaigning with his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim as leading the contest.

Disinformation Campaign

China which has made no bones of its intent to integrate Taiwan, if need be, by force has been closely monitoring and is often blamed by Taiwanese intelligence for meddling in their internal affairs. But by the assessment of instances, it appears China not only wants to interfere but desires to condition the opinion of the Taiwanese people.

During US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, billboards and digital screens in Taiwan displayed insulting messages such as ‘Warmonger Pelosi, get out of Taiwan!’, and Taiwan’s National University hacked website displayed ‘There is only one China in this world’!

The Council of Foreign Affairs report published in October 2022 estimated around 1.8 lakh fake social media accounts are directly involved in dishing out disinformation targeted at Taiwanese people. Hard-hitting messages referring to the Taiwanese population as “compatriots”, urging “both sides of the Taiwan Strait to come together” and claiming that people of Taiwan and China are part of “one family” are often flashed in Taiwan’s popular social media groups including Line, TikTok, Facebook, Dcard and Douyin used by almost 20.2 million people there.

China has been pulling out all the stops as it considered Taiwan a ‘testing ground’ for its information warfare, taking resources from its notorious military formation Base 311 often identified as the official cyber-attack hub. In one of the saddest incidents, Su Chii-cherng, a Taiwanese diplomat, was driven to suicide in 2018 due to public backlash roused by fake news originating from China. During US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit in August 2022, Taiwanese billboards and general stores’ digital screens were displaying insulting messages such as “Warmonger Pelosi, get out of Taiwan!”, Taiwan’s National University hacked website displayed “There is only one China in this world”!

At the same time, Chinese website Baidu released a Taiwan map with many streets in Taiwan’s cities replaced with cities in mainland China. Taiwan’s government claimed that these disinformation campaigns have been authorised at the highest level in CCP. In a recent Reuters report, it was suggested that President Xi presided over a meeting to review ‘preparations’ for Taiwan’s upcoming election, which was attended by Wang Huning, looking after Taiwan affairs. On 9th December, Taipei Times further reported on the meeting wherein, Wang Huning stressed strategising to prevent the detection of China’s interference.

China’s digital manipulation and misinformation in Taiwan have now taken a shrill turn. The subtle messages such as “Chinese people do not fight Chinese people” have been replaced with cautioning and at times plain threatening messages such as “Urging Tsai Ing-wen and her military and political leaders to surrender” and coming elections are a “choice between war and peace”.

What is now being witnessed in Taiwan is digital intimidation to coerce innocent minds into believing they are already on the losing side. This is an epic example of Cognitive Warfare, the idea of combat without fighting, defeating minds into submission, and not even firing a bullet

What is now being witnessed in Taiwan is digital intimidation to coerce innocent minds into believing they are already on the losing side. This is an epic example of Cognitive Warfare, the idea of combat without fighting, defeating minds into submission, and not even firing a bullet.

The Perspective

The audacious part is China pursuing all this as its state policy. China has even offered to sponsor selected Taiwanese politicians and media personnel to visit the mainland and get to ‘better understand’ the perspective. It has also ordered investigations into Chinese subsidies to Foxconn as soon as its boss announced his candidacy for presidential polls. China’s latest crackdown on a host of Taiwanese imports is yet another indicator of their manipulation tricks.

Any adverse findings in import investigations will result in the items being blacklisted and directly affect producers and manufacturers in Taiwan. Interestingly, these investigations are set to conclude on 12th January 2024, just a day before Taiwanese people go to vote. It is the most direct and disturbing threat to free and fair elections which democracies are used to. It’s like China broadcasting from the Great Wall to ‘watch out, consequences will follow’.

These developments might appear to be limited to Taiwan and restricted in the scope of its presidential elections. However, it is also indicative of unrestrained information and psychological operations carefully designed to generate favourable opinions and executed in a highly sophisticated form that has mass visibility and expansive reach. It is a contrasting form of warfare where no kinetic means have been employed, but resulting in a similar end state of submission.

The point to understand is it is warfare nonetheless. It also has some similarities with conventional warfighting, however subdued it may appear. It has a well-defined adversary, targets, strategies, and misinformation as weapons, it infiltrates across the recognised borders, manipulates opinion thus violating the sovereign will of a nation, and most importantly has a common final aim of defeating the enemy. It can be camouflaged as much as an innocent and unsuspecting viewpoint, but the magnitude of efforts the proponent pushes including conventional military resources exposes the perpetrators like daylight.

China’s ongoing Taiwan experiment demands a stern retort as it is a grave violation of a nation’s sovereignty, denying the citizens of a democracy of their free will. China’s audacious attempt to target the foundation of democracy must be called out in an unambiguous and plain-speak by every country that takes pride in its democratic values

Utmost Contempt

There has been a string of such instances globally where election manipulations have been uncovered with more than reasonable linkages pointing toward authoritarian regimes. It also indicates to utmost contempt these authoritarian regimes hold towards democratic nations openly attempting to damage the most fundamental process of electioneering. China’s ongoing Taiwan experiment demands a stern retort. It is no longer an instance restricted by geography or limited by timeline. It is simply a grave violation of a nation’s sovereignty, denying the citizens of a democracy their free will.

The template will be there with China to replicate in other parts of the world and most concerning to democratic nations such as India, the US, and most of Europe. China’s audacious attempt to target the foundation of democracy must be called out in an unambiguous and plain-speak by every country that takes pride in its democratic values.

It is amusing that Chinese leadership never gets tired of educating the global community on how they must respect different ‘social systems’ represented by China, placing a mirror would be the first thing to convey that democracies are diehard respectful of ‘their social systems’ and ‘their way of life’ as well. Any figment of interference like the one being witnessed in Taiwan should automatically invite a disproportionate response and overwhelming condemnation to ‘help’ CCP understand the gravity of their folly has a serious cost attached.

-The writer is an experienced in security and geopolitics, contributes to national publications and newspapers. His articles can be accessed on the popular blog site newsanalytics.co.in, focusing on geo-strategic affairs