It is also about creating division and spreading disinformation in Taiwan, says an expert on CCP election interference.
As the 2024 Taiwanese general election draws near, the Chinese regime is actively conducting a disinformation campaign to influence public opinion in Taiwan. However, current polls show that China has not been successful in meddling in Taiwan’s election.
Jan. 13, 2024, will be the polling day for the presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, and the election campaign has entered into its final stages with China.
Election Interference
On Dec. 12, the Japanese national newspaper Sankei Shimbun revealed that Taiwanese officials were aware that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities held a meeting in early December regarding the Taiwanese presidential election and instructed relevant departments to cover up their attempts to interfere in the election.
Wang Huning, deputy head of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, chaired the CCP meeting. During the meeting, there was a call for a change in the method of election interference from a “large-scale operation” to a “decentralized” model to avoid overseas criticism of its influence campaigns.
According to the report, this “decentralized” mode involves the propaganda wing of the CCP pushing narratives through pro-China press in Taiwan and social media sites, and the Chinese regime seeks to offer tourism packages for Taiwanese people to visit China, to normalize the CCP.
Taiwan’s Response
According to statistics from the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Taiwan, since August, the prosecutor’s office has accepted 822 cases of illegal political betting involving 731 people, 122 cases of false messages involving 145 people, 1,820 cases of illegal bribery, and 115 cases of election interference by foreign forces, involving 144 people, including travel to China by public servants, breach of the Anti-Infiltration Act, and unlawful foreign funds. The Taiwanese Ministry of Justice is actively prosecuting individuals involved in such cases.
In addition, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau closely monitors online CCP influence networks. The Bureau noticed waves of AI-generated videos from unidentifiable personal accounts on Facebook and YouTube spreading false information online regarding the presidential candidates. Many online comments from those accounts were identical, which led to the conclusion that AI automated systems were used to propagate those false narratives to influence the election
By Xin Ning and Michael Zhuang
