‘China’s interference in KMT election exposes deepening political manipulation across Taiwan’

Taipei: Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng has warned that Beijing’s interference in Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) chairperson election reflects a dangerous escalation in China’s political influence campaigns.

Chiu stated that this meddling could ironically become the push Taiwan needs for stronger bipartisan collaboration to defend its democracy from Chinese disinformation, as reported by The Taipei Times.

According to The Taipei Times, several candidates contesting today’s KMT chairperson race have accused China of manipulating the campaign through covert tactics. Chiu urged both the ruling and opposition parties to reach a shared understanding on enacting stricter laws against Beijing’s propaganda operations, which he said threaten Taiwan’s democratic foundations.

Chiu described China’s “united front” strategies as highly adaptable. Once designed to pit the KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against each other, they now aim to divide the KMT internally. By allegedly supporting some candidates and undermining others, Beijing seeks to create factions within the opposition, pro-China, pro-local, pro-unification, and pro-democracy, illustrating its long-standing divide-and-rule strategy.

Chiu said that in previous elections, waves of fake news originating in China had been strategically deployed to manipulate public sentiment and incite political tension in Taiwan. The MAC chief stressed that Taiwan’s government must take the lead in exposing these campaigns and bolstering public resilience against disinformation.

He welcomed the KMT’s new willingness to support legislative action to protect Taiwan’s democracy, saying that revisions to the National Security Act and the Anti-infiltration Act should be a joint effort rather than a partisan issue.  (ANI)

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