Spy balloons, disinformation and more: How China is meddling in Taiwan’s upcoming elections – Firstpost Feedzy

In a year of elections, all eyes have turned to Taiwan, as it prepares to go to the polls to elect a new president and parliament on Saturday (13 January). And with just a few days to go, fears are also at an all-time high about China’s interference in the elections.

In fact, on Tuesday Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive party, said, “China meddles every time Taiwan holds elections, but this time it is the most serious we have ever seen,” in possibly the strongest remarks made yet about China’s involvement and interference in the polls.

We take a closer look at just how China is playing spoilsport to the Taiwanese election.

Spy balloons, satellites and more

On Tuesday, panic spread in Taiwan after mobile phone users on the self-ruled island received a message warning them to be “aware for your safety”. This came as Beijing launched a satellite over its southern airspace.

The satellite was launched off the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China’s Sichuan province at 15:03 local time, Taiwan’s defence ministry said. At about the same time as the alert, China’s CCTV announced that a satellite named Einstein Probe had been launched with “complete success”.

Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu, who was addressing a press conference at the time of the satellite’s launch, clarified that the alert pertained to a satellite launch. He further added that the launch was part of a pattern of “grey zone” activities by Beijing aimed at intimidating Taiwan.

“With this kind of threat against Taiwan, I think we should be clear-eyed, we should not be provoked,” Wu said.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

In the run-up to the elections, Beijing has ramped up its military presence around the self-ruled island.

At least four Chinese balloons, which Taiwan has dubbed as spy balloons, have been seen floating around the island over the past few days – an activity the Taiwanese military calls a new form of grey zone harassment.

Raymond Kuo, Taiwan Policy Initiative director at RAND Corporation has said that the timing of the balloons is political. “The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is attempting to demoralise the Taiwanese public in the run-up to next week’s presidential and legislative elections,” he told news agency AFP.

However, China has brushed off claims of interference, and accused Taiwan of trying to “manipulate the election”.

Taiwan vice president and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate William Lai, cheers with supporters during an election campaign in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Taiwan will hold its presidential election on 13 January. AP

Economic warfare

According to many experts, China is also using economic measures to influence and interfere in the Taiwanese polls. On Tuesday evening, China said it was looking to suspend tariff concessions on products including agriculture and fishery, machinery, auto parts and textiles from Taiwan, following up on such a move made against some petrochemical products last month.

Late last December, China had warned Taiwan of trade sanctions. Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had said, “If the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), authorities are determined to persevere, continue to stubbornly adhere to their Taiwan independence position, and refuse to repent, we support the relevant departments taking further measures in accordance with the regulations.”

Protesters against the Chinese Communist Party dress up to depict authoritarian China and Winnie the Pooh representing Chinese president Xi Jinping, dressed as an emperor, and holding a Taiwan island cardboard cutout coloured with the Taiwan flag in Taipei, Taiwan. AP

Similar allegations of economic coercion were also levelled against China when Beijing targeted Apple supplier Foxconn with a surprise tax investigation in November 2023 in what was widely seen as a rebuke of founder Terry Gou’s decision to run for president.

These sanctions gain more prominence in light of China-Taiwan’s trade ties; Beijing is Taipei’s biggest trading partner, with data showing that trade was valued at a whopping $205 billion in 2022.

Fake news and disinformation

Apart from the economic and defence measures, China is also resorting to disinformation ahead of the Taiwanese elections.

A large of amount of content online is pushing theories about the DPP and current President Tsai Ing-wen. There are also theories being pushed about the US and Taiwan creating biolabs to target Chinese people. Moreover, fake polls have been published in local media that show the Kuomintang party (KMT) candidate surging ahead of the DPP, in order to confuse voters.

In November last year, a rumour began circulating that Hsiao Bi-khim – the DPP’s vice-presidential candidate and until recently Taiwan’s top representative in Washington — is a US citizen.

A search online also showed one particular thread, which alleged that the people of Taiwan were being fed “poisonous” pork imported from the US, as part of the disinformation drive.

While not all of these are linked to Chinese authorities, experts note that in many cases, it is the work of Chinese-linked agents.

Suppporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) react during a campaign motorcade tour of Taiwan vice president and presidential candidate of the DPP Lai Ching-te in Kaohsiung ahead of the presidential election. AFP

China, according to experts, has also been working in overdrive to peddle the narrative that the US will not support Taiwan, or will abandon it if there’s a war. For this, Beijing doesn’t depend solely on conspiracy theories but also in many cases highlighting news that shows US in a bad light.

One such instance is when Taiwanese chip giant TSMC expanded in the US. This was described as American coercion and a “hollowing out” of Taiwan’s resources. As Puma Shen, a Taiwanese expert in Chinese disinformation and Democratic Progressive Party’s legislature nominee, told the BBC, “To persuade everyone that China is the better country is more difficult, but to persuade everyone that America is problematic is relatively easier… to China that would be considered a success.”

Tim Niven, the lead researcher at Taiwan-based online monitoring NGO Doublethink Lab, also told The Guardian that they had found a surge in pro-China material in Taiwan emanating from fake accounts.

Experts have noted that China has misinformation operations are multifaceted.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu speaks at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, highlighting China’s various methods of trying to influence the election on the island. Reuters

Taiwan fights back

Taiwan’s ruling party DPP has repeatedly accused China of trying to meddle in the elections and warned the public of Beijing’s continuous interference. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as recently as 5 January said that he would publish its analysis of China’s alleged attempts to interfere in elections soon after the elections.

“Taiwan is taking measures to counter China’s interference and is documenting its experiences. Analysis will be published soon after the elections in consultation with international experts,” Wu wrote in the latest issue of The Economist, without giving details.

Interestingly, Taiwan has an added measure to curb foreign interference. Since the island of 23 million people first began direct elections almost three decades ago, it has insisted that all voting be done in person, according to a Bloomberg report.

Also read: Taiwan bars mainland China journalists on short-term permits from covering elections

A Taiwanese expert in Chinese disinformation, Puma Shen had an interesting take on the entire issue. She told BBC, “As Taiwan gets better at defending itself, so will China get better at influencing discourse with more sophisticated methods.”

It will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming polls. Will Taiwan be able to conduct a free, fair election or will China’s efforts succeed?

With inputs from agencies