TAIPEI –
Senior Chinese leaders held a meeting in early December to “coordinate” government efforts to sway upcoming elections in Taiwan, part of a campaign Taiwanese officials see as voting interference, according to intelligence gathered on the island.
Taiwan officials have warned that Beijing is trying to nudge voters toward candidates who seek closer ties with China in the territory’s Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections, which are happening as China ramps up military and political pressure to try to force the democratically governed island to accept its sovereignty.
The meeting in Beijing was held by the Chinese Communist Party’s fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning, who is also deputy head of Beijing’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, chaired by President Xi Jinping, according to multiple Taiwan security officials who discussed the matter with reporters.
