Taiwan’s Tougher China Stance Should Bolster Support From Other Nations: Experts

Taiwan’s president recently announced ‘17 strategies’ to counter Chinese influence. It’s part of a tough new stance that’s getting attention.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te arrives at a naval base in Taoyuan, Taiwan on Oct. 18, 2024. I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Images

News Analysis

Chinese ships and military aircraft were an active presence around Taiwan this week, as China conducted large scale drills in the waters around the island nation. The drills were a clear response to Taiwan’s recent announcement of a more powerful arsenal of strategies to counter Chinese influence.

That raft of strategies not only sends a strong message across the strait, but also reaches out to the world with more conviction. Experts say the tougher stance should inspire greater backing for Taiwan from other countries.

China’s Eastern Theater Command announced its military exercises on Tuesday, saying they had varied operational objectives, including “blocking key areas and roads.”

In a statement, a spokesperson with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office cited President William Lai’s reference to China as a “foreign hostile force” and his recently unveiled “17 strategies” for countering the threat from China.

Lai launched the series of measures over the past few weeks in the face of growing infiltration efforts against Taiwan by China.

The initiative followed several incidents in which Taiwanese military personnel, influencers, entertainers, and their Chinese spouses have cooperated with Beijing on “united front” work.

“Faced with Beijing’s intensified pressure, Taiwan requires further international support—both in terms of freedom of navigation operations in the region and stronger diplomatic backing,” Roger Liu, a professor at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-Sen University, told The Epoch Times.

Countering Threats to Taiwan’s Sovereignty

Lai’s “17 strategies” are designed to respond to five major threats faced by the self-governing island.

Speaking to reporters after a high level national security meeting on March 13, Lai said those threats include increased infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, attempts to confuse Taiwanese citizens about their national identity, infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and threats from “integrated development” to attract Taiwanese businesses and youth.

The strategies call for action by the various ministries and institutions of the Taipei government.

A significant focus in Lei’s plan has to do with what the Taipei Times called in a March 29 editorial the “reinvigoration of the military.” The new effort includes setting up military trial courts to deal with Chinese spies, enlarging civil-defense drills, and punishing retired military personnel for expressions of loyalty to China through reduced retirement benefits and penalties.

Lai cited cases in which active-duty or retired military personnel have been bought out by China or entertainers have spread Chinese propaganda to advance their careers.

He noted that China has recently encouraged Taiwanese citizens to apply for “residence permits,” confusing their sense of national identity. Meanwhile, he said, messaging used by Chinese state media to stir up internal discord in Taiwan “is always quickly spread by specific channels.”

According to Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, the island prosecuted 64 Chinese spies last year, including 28 active military personnel. That’s three times the number of persons charged for those offenses in 2021.

The Ministry of National Defense said on March 10 that it plans to propose a bill to punish active military personnel who spy and pledge loyalty to an adversary force. The bill includes an amendment to Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, and it aims at halting infiltration operations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Taiwanese president, along with Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and representatives from 13 countries, oversaw the island’s first “whole of society” civil-defense drills in Tainan on March 27.

The drills were conducted under the oversight of the new Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, created to respond to natural disasters like tsunamis or other events such as attacks on critical infrastructure.

‘Unrestricted War’

Courtney Donovan Smith, a columnist with the Taipei Times, told The Epoch Times that what Lai is doing should have come earlier during former President Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure, a time when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had a majority in the legislature and controlled the majority of local governments.

Currently the DPP controls the executive branch, while the opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), controls the legislative branch in conjunction with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The KMT, which has taken a “One China, different interpretations” approach, controls most local government positions as well.

Despite the divided political situation, “Unlike his predecessors, President Lai and his administration appear to be fully aware that the CCP considers itself in a whole-of-society ‘unrestricted’ war on Taiwan and the West,” said Smith.

(L-R) Taiwan's National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, and Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo pose for photos with soldiers as they visit the troops during the Rapid Response Exercise at the Songshan military airbase in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 21, 2025. I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Images

Countering the United Front

Much of Lai’s focus in the “17 strategies” has to do with countering the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CCP.

United front work blends engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations and is used by the CCP to influence other countries and access foreign technology. It’s carried out by an extensive network that seeks to influence universities, think tanks, civic groups, influential individuals and institutions, and general public opinion.

A December documentary by Taiwanese YouTuber Pa Chiung about how China bribes Taiwanese influencers to spread Chinese propaganda went viral, garnering more than 2 million views in two days.

Lai’s party, the DPP, has been wary of actions to effectively curtail united front work, Smith said, because so many of the methods used by the Taiwanese military during the KMT’s martial law period on the island were also used against the dissidents who founded Lai’s party.

“But Lai is moving past that history and trying to balance freedom and human rights while simultaneously checking the UFWD’s efforts to undermine Taiwan society, democracy, and institutions,” he said.

Backing Taiwan

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 27 approved the “Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act” that mandates the U.S. State Department review and update its policy guidance on Taiwan every five years.

This will enable the United States to adopt a policy that remains sensitive to changing realities in the Indo-Pacific and adopt a Taiwan policy that evolves within that context.

Lai’s administration has already started reaching out to other nations in addition to the United States about the threats it faces and its effort to build resilience against Chinese aggression.

Notably, last month Taiwan appointed Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, as a political affairs adviser to Taiwan’s cabinet.

Peace across the Taiwan Strait is fundamental to the larger interests of the Indo-Pacific, experts say, and it’s vital that countries in the region come forward to support Taiwan’s reinvigorated security effort.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd R) stands alongside Indo-Pacific Quad ministers (L-R) Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, before meetings at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The Quad Nations

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) has “repeatedly declared that it wants to see a stable and secure Indo-Pacific, where all states abide by their international commitments not to wield the threat or use of force to change the status quo,” said Ian Hall, professor of international relations at Australia’s Griffith University.

Quad is a diplomatic partnership between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan.

China has repeatedly threatened Taiwan and hasn’t lived up to its promises, Hall said. The Quad nations should play a responsible role in this context, helping to maintain a democratic framework in the region.

“The Quad should do what it can to deter China from straying even further from its commitments,” Hall said.

Satoru Nagao, a non-resident fellow with the Washington-based Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times that the Quad nations won’t escape conflict if China attacks Taiwan. Moreover, Taiwan can be key to the Quad’s counter-China strategy.

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan will “automatically” escalate to a war between China versus the United States and Japan, the Tokyo-based Nagao said.

“Additionally, U.S. fighter jets will defend Taiwan from its air bases in Japan. If China really wants to win the war, China would need to attack the air bases in Japan. This means that Japan can’t escape from China’s military operations against Taiwan.”

Akhil Ramesh of the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum told The Epoch Times that the Trump administration looks for strategic gains in every deal it makes with a foreign government. Therefore, it will value a stronger security component in its dealings with Quad, more than simply a “public good delivery mechanism.”

“Given President Trump’s penchant to seek security or strategic gains for the U.S. in every deal with a foreign government, both at the bilateral and multilateral level, the Quad would be on stronger footing if it weighed in on security issues surrounding the Taiwan strait,” said Ramesh.

Ramesh cited words by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday during a trip to Tokyo. Hegseth talked about strengthening first and second island chains and “re-establishing deterrence.” The first island chain includes Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

“America is committed to sustaining robust, ready, and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait,” Hegseth said.

Ramesh said it’s time for Quad to transform into a “deterrence mechanism” in the Indo-Pacific.