Taiwan: China is increasingly meddling in elections Pink pond in Hawaii: why this natural phenomenon means nothing good

About two months before Taiwan’s elections, the island nation’s National Security Council sees increasing efforts by China to influence the outcome in its favor. Beijing is waging a disinformation campaign, threatening the military and putting pressure on Taiwan’s economy, the authority said in Taipei on Monday. The People’s Republic’s leadership wants to prevent Vice President William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from winning the election, Security Council Secretary-General responsible for intelligence Wellington Koo said. China considers the democratic island republic part of its territory and has repeatedly publicly threatened a violent takeover.

In Taiwan, the head of state and parliament will be elected on January 13, 2024. The party of Lai and incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, who is no longer a candidate after two terms in office, leads the polls by a significant margin. Behind them are the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang (KMT), which wants to resume talks with China and is therefore likely to be the favored election winner from Beijing’s perspective. So far, however, the KMT and the TPP have failed to form an alliance that could pose a threat to the DPP.

Beijing focuses on Taiwanese entrepreneur

China and Taiwan are separated by a strait. The Communist Party in Beijing considers the island nation part of China, which historically dates back to the Chinese Civil War in the first half of the 20th century. Taiwan has had an independent government for decades. China threatens to invade and repeatedly demonstrates its power with major military exercises.

According to government official Koo, Beijing wants to prevent the founder of the major Taiwanese company Foxconn from participating in the presidential elections by putting pressure on his company. This is intended to prevent billionaire Terry Gou, who is far behind in the polls and whose company is one of the largest private employers in China, from siphoning votes from other opposition candidates. Chinese authorities announced on October 22 that Apple supplier Foxconn would be subject to a tax audit. The final list of election candidates will be announced on November 24.

Disinformation on social media

According to Koo, China also deliberately spreads false information about living conditions in Taiwan on social media such as Tiktok. This was intended to turn Taiwanese voters against the ruling DPP. Instead of blocking the platforms, Taiwanese authorities tried to correct the false claims, Koo said. “We rely on the democratic resilience and media literacy of Taiwanese citizens.” (sda/dpa)