Taiwan’s Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology recently held a forum discussing “Observations on China’s Influence in Taiwan – Using Local Organizations as Examples.” Experts highlighted the challenges facing the Taiwan government in countering the infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and provided diverse perspectives. They emphasized that while the need to “resist the CCP” is well-known, there is a sense of apathy and indifference among some members of the public, urging Taiwanese people to remain vigilant.
Chairwoman Yan Wan-ling of the Taiwan Democracy Lab presented a report on “Observations on China’s Influence in Taiwan – Using Local Organizations as Examples.” She explained from the perspective of local political operations how the CCP’s united front network identifies local collaborators and influences information recipients. She pointed out that the CCP seeks to establish support from local Taiwanese grassroots forces that align with its stance, impacting civil society, the Kuomintang, and non-partisan county/city governments in Taiwan to pressure and influence the Democratic Progressive Party-led central government.
Yan Wan-ling outlined the relevant systems through which the CCP influences local politics in Taiwan, including local administrative systems, local legislative systems, agricultural marketing systems, higher education systems, temple systems, community building and local revitalization systems, social welfare systems, and sports association systems.
Using the example of the CCP’s influence on Taiwan’s local administrative system, she highlighted how resources are utilized to establish connections, such as Guo Yunhui providing funds to establish the Republic of China Village Chiefs Association. Guo Yunhui has organized multiple exchanges between Taiwanese village chiefs and China, endorsing candidates who support the “cross-strait kinship” concept and even backing specific political party candidates to enable the CCP to influence local politicians in Taiwan.
Guo Yunhui, the founding president of the National Village Chiefs Association, and Liu Yuzhong, the chairman of the International and Cross-Strait Education Exchange Development Association in Taoyuan, were allegedly involved in recruiting over thirty village chiefs and community development association directors to visit China in October 2023 for a “Root-Seeking Trip” and receive hospitality. During the banquet, they cooperated with officials from the CCP Taiwan Affairs Bureau to persuade the participants to support the “cross-strait kinship” concept and specific political parties, leading to their summoning by the prosecutors and subsequent release on bail.
Yan Wan-ling highlighted the CCP’s influence on Taiwan’s local legislative system, citing instances where Kuomintang Kinmen legislator Chen Yuzhen and Kinmen councilors visited Beijing to meet with CCP Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao to advocate for increasing mainland Chinese tourists visiting Kinmen. In the Tainan City Council, Kuomintang councilors have questioned the impact of fewer mainland Chinese tourists on tourism in Tainan, leveraging their ability to review budgets and exert influence in the council to pressure the local government.
Regarding the CCP’s influence on Taiwan’s community building and local revitalization system, Yan Wan-ling mentioned that since 2018, Fujian Province pioneered a Fujian-Taiwan cooperation model focusing on rural development, a third-party full-process mentoring service model, and a cross-strait architect joint residency model, establishing the Strait Rural Development Award. This attracted Taiwanese professionals in community building and local revitalization industries to work in China, benefiting from it, and exploiting these benefits through a network back to Taiwan.
Using the CCP’s influence on Taiwan’s higher education as an example, Yan Wan-ling pointed out how the CCP attracts Taiwanese students to study and work in China, with the number of Taiwanese students increased from approximately 10,363 in the 2014 academic year to over 12,808 in the 2018 academic year, with over 12,000 students still going to China in the 2023 academic year, leading Taiwanese youth to question the discourse of “resisting the CCP.”
She also highlighted how Guo Yunhui, as the chairman of the Taoyuan Sports Association’s Slow Pitch Softball Committee, led a team to participate in the 2023 Cross-Strait National Baseball and Softball League. Sports exchanges also form a crucial part of the CCP’s united front network, appealing to both professional and amateur athletes in Taiwan, enabling it to infiltrate local social networks.
Yan Wan-ling used the CCP’s influence on Taiwan’s social welfare system as an example, indicating how the CCP bypasses the existing social welfare system through Guo Yunhui’s individual case services, benefiting vulnerable groups with tangible actions, buying off specific vulnerable individuals, consequently affecting elections in Taiwan.
She noted that “In Taiwan, in recent years, through the ‘Anti-Infiltration Act,’ many individuals have been prosecuted, but few have been convicted in the end.” Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are also targets of the CCP’s united front work, with specific cases including Lee Shangdian, former assistant to Kuomintang indigenous legislator Zheng Tiancai, who used cross-strait minority exchanges as a guise to accept Chinese funds to campaign for Zheng Tiancai, ultimately being convicted after prosecution.
Lee Shangdian, chairman and general secretary of the Hualien County Cross-Strait Minority Exchange Association, and his wife, Guo Peijin, were accused of receiving cash assistance and free travel from the Guangxi Taiwan Affairs Office multiple times to campaign for the then Kuomintang candidate for the Indigenous Plain Aborigines legislators, Zheng Tiancai. The Taipei District Court sentenced Lee Shangdian to five months in prison, Guo Peijin to four months in prison with a five-year probation under the ‘Anti-Infiltration Act.’
Yan Wan-ling pointed out that while the government’s enactment of the “Anti-Infiltration Act” has indeed been effective, there are uncertainties about the specific actions that should be taken at the public level. She called for clear direction from the government and urged the public to remain vigilant to prevent apathy or indifference towards the CCP’s influence.
Furthermore, Yan Wan-ling mentioned that the Taiwan Democracy Lab’s research uncovered AI (artificial intelligence) fake account operations during the 2024 elections. The study indicated that AI became a crucial tool for shaping public opinion during the 2024 Taiwan elections. The CCP focused on attacking the performance of the Democratic Progressive Party’s central government, issues related to national defense, cross-strait relations, controversies surrounding political parties and figures, and challenges to democratic processes, distorting public perceptions and maligning opponents to influence Taiwan’s political landscape through a fabricated “multi-dimensional universe” of misinformation.
Additionally, Yan Wan-ling mentioned the Taiwan Democracy Lab’s significant project, the “China Index,” a platform systematically measuring the CCP’s external influence. The survey covers 101 countries and nine domains including academia, media, society, technology, domestic politics, economy, military, law enforcement, and foreign diplomacy, with 99 key indicators designed for assessment.
She stated that through this multinational survey program collaborating with local researchers worldwide, insights into local conditions are provided, analyzing the CCP’s interventions in the nine sectors of each country. The annual results of the “China Influence Index” are published on the official website (https://china-index.io), enabling an understanding of how the CCP influences other countries through tactics such as inducement or pressure.