The Taiwanese government is helping Pacific countries combat disinformation, using its experience with countering election inference originating from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Douglas Yu-Tien Hsu, a representative from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Australia, discussed Taiwan’s efforts to support democratic institutions and enhance democracy in the Pacific region.
“One thing that Taiwan has learned over the years is that during our election, there are a lot of disinformation operations,” he told a joint committee at an inquiry hearing on Aug. 22.
“So how to help the island countries raise awareness of the disinformation operation during those campaigns is definitely essential.”
Hsu gave the example that Taiwan’s experience could help Pacific countries identify whether a piece of information was false or intentional disinformation.
“We also help them identify whether the misinformation is from a domestic opposition party or other foreign nations,” he said.
The TECO representative also noted that the Taiwanese government was working to set up a workshop in Australia, inviting journalists from Pacific island countries.
The workshop will feature experts from Taiwan, Australia, and the United States who will train the journalists to identify misinformation and disinformation.
CCP’s Disinformation Campaigns Against Taiwan
For decades, Taiwan has faced significant disinformation campaigns from the CCP as the latter seeks to undermine the island’s democracy.According to the U.S. cybersecurity firm Fortinet, Taiwan experienced around 15,000 cyber threats per second in the first half of 2023, making the island the most attacked location in Asia-Pacific cyberspace.
Wu Tsunghan, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute of National Defense and Security Research, cited specific incidents such as a social media post in Dec. 2023 accusing the Taiwanese government of monitoring the Taiwanese public.
In another example, a disinformation campaign accused the Taiwanese government of intending to import Japanese nuclear waste to Taiwan.
A report by the Taiwan FactCheck Center indicated that malicious actors used popular social media platforms in Taiwan, such as Facebook, to share images and false information sourced from Chinese platforms like Weibo or Douyin.
Wu noted that disinformation campaigns intensify around national elections, and accelerate during high-profile visits of Taiwanese leaders to the United States and vice-versa.
Australian Senate Passes Motion Rejecting CCP’s Claim Over Taiwan
Hsu’s remarks come just one day after the Australian Senate passed a bipartisan-backed motion rejecting the CCP’s “One China” principle.The motion challenged the CCP’s interpretation of United Nations Resolution 2758, emphasising that it does not grant sovereignty over Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill, who led the motion, said any assertion that Resolution 2758 established PRC’s sovereignty over Taiwan was false and should be considered an attempt to undermine its true objectives.
“We must be diligent in opposing such disinformation because attacks on truth are also attacks on democracy,” she told the Senate on Aug. 21.
“It is deeply regrettable that the representatives of the PRC continue to distort the meaning of Resolution 2758 in support of the One China principle and to alter historical documents to change Taiwan, to ‘Taiwan province of China.’”
After the motion was passed, Taiwan’s representatives in Australia welcomed the Senate’s decision while condemning the CCP’s distortion of the Resolution.
“China’s efforts to subvert the language of the resolution to make false claims of sovereignty over Taiwan are unacceptable,” they said.
“We applaud the efforts of our fellow free democracies to push back against such blatant and irresponsible disinformation.”
