Analysis: Is China Failing in Efforts To Sway Taiwan's Upcoming Elections?
Is China finding success as it looks to win hearts and minds and influence Taiwan's upcoming elections? TaiwanPlus speaks to Chun-yi Lee of Nottingham University’s Taiwan Research Center.
Transcript
00:00 A lot of Taiwanese leaders are sounding the alarm over Chinese infiltration and influence
00:05 on Taiwan's upcoming elections.
00:07 How does China try to influence, disrupt or determine Taiwan's elections?
00:13 Every four years Taiwan had an election, China would have some military exercise around the
00:18 island or across the Taiwan Strait, trying to intimidate Taiwanese people.
00:25 Every time it's actually resolved or received counter effect to actually prompt the opposition
00:33 party DPP more successful.
00:36 So in that sense, I think China learned that military exercise actually didn't bring the
00:42 outcome they would like to have.
00:45 China still is trying to infiltrate in Taiwan, that's for sure.
00:49 It's just that they wouldn't do that, obviously, as sending over the fighter jet, buying or
00:57 sanctioning Taiwan.
00:58 But you just can't really be unaware of China's trying to manipulate Taiwanese audience in
01:07 terms of the web message, through live, through also the news of the China's infiltration.
01:19 And we've been hearing a lot about local Taiwan politicians visiting China, receiving subsidized
01:23 food and travel and meeting with Chinese officials there.
01:26 Could you tell me how big a threat is this sort of thing for Taiwan's elections?
01:30 First of all, I don't think these trips are illegal because they are individual and Taiwan
01:36 is a democracy and which is difficult.
01:39 That in a democracy, you could go anywhere, right?
01:42 You could take the trips and you could receive the whatever, the rewards of the trips.
01:49 But it's just need to see into this ripple effect, how big it could make to the voters.
01:56 So if those local officials, they went to China and then he would be able to influence
02:02 their voters to a larger scale, I would be very surprised because again, that is what
02:08 I said, most of the Taiwanese citizens have been aware of the Chinese influence and have
02:14 been knowing that China is trying to buy hearts and minds.
02:19 How has China been changing its tactics as it looks to win over hearts and minds in Taiwan?
02:24 And are these efforts succeeding?
02:27 I think China has been a bit tired of Taiwanese people don't bite the bait.
02:35 So in that sense, I don't think that China, China's still trying to do all the time, those
02:40 tricks, but it's not, they just don't find those tricks are really working.
02:44 That this information might work better because it's infiltrating further and deeper to the
02:51 Taiwanese society.
02:52 I think that China in many ways have been trying to maneuver Taiwan, but in many ways,
03:00 those tactics couldn't really succeed because it's actually touched upon the really soft
03:05 part of Taiwanese people's hearts and minds, which is, would you like to trade the democracy
03:12 that your generations and before your generation, you fought so much for with autocracy society?
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