China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war

As Chinese language warships and fighter jets staged huge drills round Taiwan in December, a parallel motion was unfolding on smartphone screens.

On Douyin, China’s model of TikTok, a information outlet run by the Chinese language Communist Social gathering posted a 51-second video of Taiwan opposition chief Cheng Li-wun accusing President Lai Ching-te of inviting Chinese language aggression.

Lai, Cheng stated, was “dragging all 23 million of us” in Taiwan right into a “useless finish, a street to demise” by pursuing independence. The clip rapidly surfaced on Fb, YouTube and different platforms in style in Taiwan.

Chinese language state media shops are more and more amplifying Taiwanese critics of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Social gathering (DPP), together with influencers and politicians linked to the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), in accordance with 5 Taiwanese safety officers and information from Taipei-based analysis group IORG that was shared with Reuters.

China imports the general public statements of main KMT and different opposition figures which might be crucial of the Taiwan authorities and pumps them out in a torrent of anti-DPP messaging in Chinese language state media and on social media platforms in China, in accordance with the information and sources.

These clips are then reshared and infrequently repackaged for consumption on platforms in style in Taiwan, together with Fb, TikTok and YouTube, in addition to on Douyin, generally embellished or introduced in ways in which obscure China’s hand.

Whereas China has prior to now employed Taiwanese figures in its propaganda, it has turbocharged this information-warfare tactic, the Taiwan safety officers stated: Acquainted voices and accents can sound extra credible.

The purpose is to discredit a authorities Beijing accuses of in search of independence, the officers stated. And, with the DPP in search of $40 billion in further protection outlays, the marketing campaign additionally seems aimed toward convincing Taiwanese that China’s navy energy is so overwhelming that it’s futile for Taiwan to spend closely on extra American weapons, in accordance with IORG and three of the safety officers.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Workplace and protection ministry didn’t reply to requests for remark about Beijing’s info warfare.

Taiwan’s protection ministry instructed Reuters it’s countering an enormous improve in Chinese language “cognitive warfare” by strengthening the armed forces’ media-literacy abilities and psychological resilience.

President Lai’s workplace added that cross-strait peace should be “constructed on power, not on concessions to authoritarian strain.”

Fb, TikTok and YouTube, that are blocked in China, didn’t reply to questions on Chinese language info warfare. Douyin additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark.

China considers Taiwan a part of its territory and hasn’t dominated out utilizing navy pressure to grab it. Taiwan’s authorities rejects China’s sovereignty declare, saying it’s already an unbiased nation known as the Republic of China, its formal title. Beijing refuses ​to talk with the DPP administration, and calls Lai a “separatist.”

Whereas Chinese language preparations for navy motion in opposition to Taiwan proceed, the knowledge warfare is a part of Beijing’s technique of sporting down Taiwan with out resorting to pressure.

On this regard, Taiwan’s opposition KMT gives a invaluable opening for China: The occasion has moved to hunt nearer ties with Beijing in a bid to go off what it says is a disaster made worse by the DPP authorities’s provocation of China.

Cheng, the KMT chief, met Chinese language President Xi Jinping this month in Beijing, the place Xi instructed her the KMT and the Communist Social gathering should “consolidate political mutual belief” and “be part of fingers to create a shiny way forward for the motherland’s reunification.”

In a press release to Reuters, the KMT stated Cheng’s go to to Beijing fulfilled a marketing campaign pledge and continued a long-established custom of top-level conferences between the KMT and the Communist Social gathering. The 2 events have many variations, however each imagine disagreements ought to be resolved via dialogue, it added.

SOCIAL MEDIA BATTLEGROUND

Information offered to Reuters by IORG, also referred to as the Taiwan Data Surroundings Analysis Heart, exhibits the mechanics of the Chinese language marketing campaign. The non-partisan group of social scientists and information analysts is funded partly by the U.S. and European governments, and educational establishments in Taiwan.

Some 560,000 movies had been posted on Douyin by 1,076 accounts run by official Communist Social gathering media shops within the fourth quarter of 2025. About 18,000 movies mentioned Taiwan. IORG used facial-recognition know-how to determine 57 Taiwanese figures in 2,730 clips, with outcomes verified by IORG researchers and reviewed by Reuters.

The variety of movies that includes Taiwanese voices greater than doubled from a yr earlier throughout October and November, and month-to-month airtime jumped 164% to 369 minutes.

Strikingly, of the highest 25 Taiwanese figures within the Chinese language movies, 13 are affiliated with the KMT, from present lawmakers and occasion representatives to former officers below previous KMT-led governments.

Two others are senior officers in a small occasion that helps unification with China, whereas 10 are influencers identified for criticizing the governing DPP.

Cheng, the KMT chief, was the top-ranked Taiwanese determine within the Chinese language clips, that includes in 460 movies throughout 68 Douyin accounts and producing greater than 5 million interactions, together with likes, feedback and shares.

The movies amplified her requires “peace” with China, her criticism of President Lai as a “pawn” of exterior forces, and her characterization of the DPP’s stance on Taiwan independence as harmful.

As soon as aired on Chinese language state media and social media platforms, a few of the clips had been repackaged and posted on platforms in style in Taiwan.

In its assertion, the KMT stated Cheng’s feedback mirrored the mainstream aspirations of the Taiwanese individuals for peace.

“Even when mainland state media have a tendency to include extra Taiwanese voices, that is primarily based on the variety of public opinion that already exists in Taiwan,” it added.

Varied influencers had been additionally closely cited by the Chinese language shops. Amongst them had been Holger Chen Chih-han, a bodybuilder in style with youthful audiences, and 5 retired senior navy officers identified for criticizing the DPP and Taiwan’s defenses.

“Pleased birthday, motherland,” Chen stated on a YouTube livestream in late September, forward of China’s Nationwide Day. Quick clips of the published, during which he additionally stated the individuals of Taiwan and China had been “one household,” had been later shared by Chinese language state media shops, together with China Information Service.

Chen didn’t reply to a request for remark.

In a single video posted by China Information Service, former Taiwan Military Colonel Lai Yueh-chien claimed Chinese language drones had “entered” Taiwan undetected throughout navy workouts in December.

Lai additionally urged that China would possibly conduct a decapitation strike in opposition to “pro-independence leaders” of their sleep. The video quickly appeared on Fb and YouTube.

The assertion that Chinese language drones had approached Taiwan first appeared in a video posted on a social media account run by China’s navy, in accordance with IORG. Taiwan’s protection ministry denied the drone declare.

China Information Service didn’t reply to Reuters questions. Lai Yueh-chien declined to remark about his presence in Chinese language state media.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council instructed Reuters the federal government hoped the retired navy officers “shall be aware of public notion” and shouldn’t echo Beijing’s rhetoric. Furthermore, it added, they “should not overlook the oath they as soon as swore to be loyal” to Taiwan.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TARGETING

Assist in Taiwan for sustaining the established order indefinitely has risen eight factors to 33.5% since 2020, whereas assist for sustaining the established order however transferring towards independence has declined nearly 4 factors to 21.9%, in accordance with a long-running annual survey collection launched in January by the Election Research Heart at Taiwan’s Nationwide Chengchi College.

The mixed proportion who need unification with China as quickly as doable or want to keep the established order however transfer towards unification has been comparatively steady at round 7%.

It’s unclear whether or not the intensification of China’s info warfare is having an affect. There was no discernible shift in Taiwanese attitudes towards independence or unification since 2024, in accordance with the annual survey information.

This timeframe roughly coincides with the interval of intensified info warfare examined by IORG. The DPP, China’s principal political antagonist in Taiwan, misplaced its parliamentary majority in 2024 however has gained the final three presidential elections.

Nonetheless, the barrage of messaging “creates an setting during which China can extra simply win assist, as a result of its technique actually is to decrease morale, instill a way of psychological despair, persuade individuals they haven’t any future in being autonomous and their most suitable choice is to hitch up with China,” stated Bonnie Glaser, head of the Indo-Pacific program on the German Marshall Fund of the USA, a assume tank that receives funding from U.S. and European governments and firms together with tech and protection companies.

Taiwan’s intelligence officers recorded over 45,000 units of inauthentic social-media accounts and a pair of.3 million items of disinformation on China-Taiwan points final yr, a January report by Taiwan’s Nationwide Safety Bureau stated.

It described the targets of Beijing’s info warfare: to exacerbate divisions inside Taiwan; weaken Taiwanese individuals’s will to withstand; and win assist for China’s stance.

“They need you to doubt the navy and doubt Taiwan, to make you’re feeling that nobody will come that can assist you if conflict breaks out,” one Taiwanese safety official stated of China’s state media.

A civil-defense handbook that Taiwan’s authorities issued to households final yr went as far as to state preemptively that amid heightened tensions with China, any claims of Taiwan’s give up should be thought of false – a recognition that the knowledge battle is intensifying, even when no photographs have been fired.