Latest news with #pro-China
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan pursues homegrown Chinese spies as Beijing's influence grows
Taiwan is vetting hundreds of thousands of military service members, public school teachers and civil servants in a bid to root out potential homegrown Chinese sympathisers, as Beijing intensifies espionage on the island. Alarm is growing in Taiwan over the extent of China's infiltration on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and has threatened to seize by force. Prosecutors last week charged four recently expelled members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party -- including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te's office -- for sharing state secrets with Beijing. While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, analysts warn the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack. The main targets of Chinese infiltration have been retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology. Lai, an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and loathed by Beijing, has branded China a "foreign hostile force" and sought to raise public awareness about Chinese actions he says threaten national security. After a sharp rise in the number of people prosecuted for spying for China in recent years, the government is trying to identify people within its own departments, military and public schools with a possible allegiance to Beijing. Anyone on the public service payroll found with Chinese residence or other identification cards risks losing their Taiwanese household registration, effectively their citizenship. "The reason we started to survey (for Chinese IDs) is because China uses this way to coerce Taiwanese people, to penetrate our system, especially the public service," DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu told AFP. "The threat is getting worse and worse and we have to deal with that." - 'Cleanse the population' - In the first round held recently, 371,203 people, or nearly all of those surveyed, signed statements declaring they did not hold any Chinese ID documents prohibited by Taiwanese law. Two people admitted having Chinese ID cards and 75 having residence permits, which were annulled, Taiwan's top policy body on China, the Mainland Affairs Council, said. The second round of vetting is underway, but the government has said the general public will not be targeted. Concern over Taiwanese people holding Chinese ID documents flared after a YouTube video last year alleged there were tens of thousands of cases. A senior Taiwanese security official said recently China was issuing ID papers to a growing number of people from Taiwan, but it was "difficult to estimate" how many or track down offenders without Beijing's cooperation. "The idea is to define Taiwanese citizens as Chinese citizens under their legal framework," the official said. Legal scholar Su Yen-tu said there were limits on the government's "investigatory power" to find out who held Chinese ID cards in Taiwan. If Taiwanese people did not voluntarily disclose the information, "there's not much the government can do," said Su, a research professor at Academia Sinica. Collecting records was still "potentially useful", Jamestown Foundation president Peter Mattis told AFP, particularly if someone under investigation in the future is found to have lied about their documents. Taiwan has also asked around 10,000 Chinese spouses and their China-born children for proof they have given up their Chinese household registration, a decades-old requirement under Taiwanese law. - 'It's a fight every day' - The notices sparked criticism that the government was being heavyhanded, but Wang said stricter enforcement was needed because some "new immigrants" from China had spied for Beijing and interfered in Taiwan's elections. "I personally feel that it's a bit disturbing for the people," said Li I-ching, a 23-year-old graduate student in Taipei, who was born in China to a Chinese mother and a Taiwanese father. Like many others, Li has to obtain evidence from China that she no longer holds permanent residence status. The Beijing-friendly main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) has accused the government of conducting "loyalty" tests. "At a time when our country is facing so many difficulties... the government is only thinking about how to cleanse the population," said KMT lawmaker Chen Yu-jen. The dispute between Taiwan and China dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island. China has vowed to annex Taiwan and in recent years has ramped up its military pressure on the island. Taiwan says China also uses disinformation, cyberattacks and espionage to weaken its defences. "It's a fight every day for the Taiwanese against this sort of stuff," said Mark Harrison, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania. "I think their democracy has tremendous integrity, but it does have to be defended, and when you defend something, it certainly generates a lot of discourse, a lot of debate." aw-joy-amj/ecl
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Taiwan Pursues Homegrown Chinese Spies As Beijing's Influence Grows
Taiwan is vetting hundreds of thousands of military service members, public school teachers and civil servants in a bid to root out potential homegrown Chinese sympathisers, as Beijing intensifies espionage on the island. Alarm is growing in Taiwan over the extent of China's infiltration on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and has threatened to seize by force. Prosecutors last week charged four recently expelled members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party -- including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te's office -- for sharing state secrets with Beijing. While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, analysts warn the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack. The main targets of Chinese infiltration have been retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology. Lai, an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and loathed by Beijing, has branded China a "foreign hostile force" and sought to raise public awareness about Chinese actions he says threaten national security. After a sharp rise in the number of people prosecuted for spying for China in recent years, the government is trying to identify people within its own departments, military and public schools with a possible allegiance to Beijing. Anyone on the public service payroll found with Chinese residence or other identification cards risks losing their Taiwanese household registration, effectively their citizenship. "The reason we started to survey (for Chinese IDs) is because China uses this way to coerce Taiwanese people, to penetrate our system, especially the public service," DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu told AFP. "The threat is getting worse and worse and we have to deal with that." In the first round held recently, 371,203 people, or nearly all of those surveyed, signed statements declaring they did not hold any Chinese ID documents prohibited by Taiwanese law. Two people admitted having Chinese ID cards and 75 having residence permits, which were annulled, Taiwan's top policy body on China, the Mainland Affairs Council, said. The second round of vetting is underway, but the government has said the general public will not be targeted. Concern over Taiwanese people holding Chinese ID documents flared after a YouTube video last year alleged there were tens of thousands of cases. A senior Taiwanese security official said recently China was issuing ID papers to a growing number of people from Taiwan, but it was "difficult to estimate" how many or track down offenders without Beijing's cooperation. "The idea is to define Taiwanese citizens as Chinese citizens under their legal framework," the official said. Legal scholar Su Yen-tu said there were limits on the government's "investigatory power" to find out who held Chinese ID cards in Taiwan. If Taiwanese people did not voluntarily disclose the information, "there's not much the government can do," said Su, a research professor at Academia Sinica. Collecting records was still "potentially useful", Jamestown Foundation president Peter Mattis told AFP, particularly if someone under investigation in the future is found to have lied about their documents. Taiwan has also asked around 10,000 Chinese spouses and their China-born children for proof they have given up their Chinese household registration, a decades-old requirement under Taiwanese law. The notices sparked criticism that the government was being heavyhanded, but Wang said stricter enforcement was needed because some "new immigrants" from China had spied for Beijing and interfered in Taiwan's elections. "I personally feel that it's a bit disturbing for the people," said Li I-ching, a 23-year-old graduate student in Taipei, who was born in China to a Chinese mother and a Taiwanese father. Like many others, Li has to obtain evidence from China that she no longer holds permanent residence status. The Beijing-friendly main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) has accused the government of conducting "loyalty" tests. "At a time when our country is facing so many difficulties... the government is only thinking about how to cleanse the population," said KMT lawmaker Chen Yu-jen. The dispute between Taiwan and China dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island. China has vowed to annex Taiwan and in recent years has ramped up its military pressure on the island. Taiwan says China also uses disinformation, cyberattacks and espionage to weaken its defences. "It's a fight every day for the Taiwanese against this sort of stuff," said Mark Harrison, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania. "I think their democracy has tremendous integrity, but it does have to be defended, and when you defend something, it certainly generates a lot of discourse, a lot of debate." Prosecutors last week charged four recently expelled members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party -- including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te's office -- for sharing state secrets with Beijing AFP
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US adversaries fuel disinformation about LA protests
Russia, China and Iran are amplifying disinformation about protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles, researchers said Friday, adding to a surge of domestically generated falsehoods and conspiracy theories. The findings from researchers at the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare. NewsGuard said Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-affiliated sources have published around 10,000 posts and articles about the demonstrations that recently erupted in Los Angeles, advancing false claims framing the city as "ground zero in an American apocalypse." Seizing on the political rift between President Donald Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom, pro-China accounts on X and Chinese platforms such as Douyin and Weibo have peddled unfounded claims that California was ready to secede from the United States and declare independence. Meanwhile, Tehran-based newspapers have peddled the false claim that popular Iranian singer-songwriter Andranik Madadian had been detained by the National Guard in Los Angeles, in an apparent effort to portray the United States as an authoritarian state. NewsGuard quoted Madadian, better known by his stage name Andy, as denying the claim, stating: "I am fine. Please don't believe these rumors." Russian media and pro-Russian influencers, meanwhile, has embraced right-wing conspiracy theories, including the unfounded claim that the Mexican government was stoking the demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies. "The demonstrations are unfolding at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities such as eroded trust in institutions, AI chatbots amplifying false claims about the unrest, political polarization, and a rollback of safety and moderation efforts by major platforms," McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP. "As a result, foreign actors have a wide-open playing field to flood the zone with falsehoods at a faster rate and fewer barriers compared to previous moments of unrest," she added. The apparent alignment across the three countries was noteworthy, Sadeghi said. "While Russia, China, and Iran regularly push their own unique forms of disinformation, it's less common to see them move in such a coordinated fashion like this," she said. "This time, state media outlets have escalated their messaging to advance their geopolitical interests and deflect attention from their own domestic crises." The disinformation comes on top of false narratives promoted by US-based influencers. In recent days, conservative social media users have circulated two photographs of brick piles they claimed were strategically placed for the California protesters to hurl at police and inflame violence. The photos were cited as proof that the protests were fueled by nonprofit organizations supported by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman for the far right. But AFP's fact-checkers found that one photo was lifted from an online marketplace, where a Malaysian hardware dealer uploaded it years ago, while the other was snapped near a construction site in New Jersey. "Every time there's a popular protest, the old clickbaity 'pallets of bricks' hoax shows up right on cue," the Social Media Lab, a research center at the Toronto Metropolitan University, wrote on the platform Bluesky. "The fact that these types of fake images are used isn't a coincidence. It's part of a pernicious (and) persistent narrative that protests against government policies are somehow inauthentic." ac/sla
France 24
13-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
US adversaries fuel disinformation about LA protests
The findings from researchers at the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare. NewsGuard said Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-affiliated sources have published around 10,000 posts and articles about the demonstrations that recently erupted in Los Angeles, advancing false claims framing the city as "ground zero in an American apocalypse." Seizing on the political rift between President Donald Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom, pro-China accounts on X and Chinese platforms such as Douyin and Weibo have peddled unfounded claims that California was ready to secede from the United States and declare independence. Meanwhile, Tehran-based newspapers have peddled the false claim that popular Iranian singer-songwriter Andranik Madadian had been detained by the National Guard in Los Angeles, in an apparent effort to portray the United States as an authoritarian state. NewsGuard quoted Madadian, better known by his stage name Andy, as denying the claim, stating: "I am fine. Please don't believe these rumors." Russian media and pro-Russian influencers, meanwhile, has embraced right-wing conspiracy theories, including the unfounded claim that the Mexican government was stoking the demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies. "The demonstrations are unfolding at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities such as eroded trust in institutions, AI chatbots amplifying false claims about the unrest, political polarization, and a rollback of safety and moderation efforts by major platforms," McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP. "As a result, foreign actors have a wide-open playing field to flood the zone with falsehoods at a faster rate and fewer barriers compared to previous moments of unrest," she added. The apparent alignment across the three countries was noteworthy, Sadeghi said. "While Russia, China, and Iran regularly push their own unique forms of disinformation, it's less common to see them move in such a coordinated fashion like this," she said. "This time, state media outlets have escalated their messaging to advance their geopolitical interests and deflect attention from their own domestic crises." The disinformation comes on top of false narratives promoted by US-based influencers. In recent days, conservative social media users have circulated two photographs of brick piles they claimed were strategically placed for the California protesters to hurl at police and inflame violence. The photos were cited as proof that the protests were fueled by nonprofit organizations supported by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman for the far right. But AFP's fact-checkers found that one photo was lifted from an online marketplace, where a Malaysian hardware dealer uploaded it years ago, while the other was snapped near a construction site in New Jersey. "Every time there's a popular protest, the old clickbaity 'pallets of bricks' hoax shows up right on cue," the Social Media Lab, a research center at the Toronto Metropolitan University, wrote on the platform Bluesky. © 2025 AFP
Int'l Business Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
US Adversaries Fuel Disinformation About LA Protests
Russia, China and Iran are amplifying disinformation about protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles, researchers said Friday, adding to a surge of domestically generated falsehoods and conspiracy theories. The findings from researchers at the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare. NewsGuard said Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-affiliated sources have published around 10,000 posts and articles about the demonstrations that recently erupted in Los Angeles, advancing false claims framing the city as "ground zero in an American apocalypse." Seizing on the political rift between President Donald Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom, pro-China accounts on X and Chinese platforms such as Douyin and Weibo have peddled unfounded claims that California was ready to secede from the United States and declare independence. Meanwhile, Tehran-based newspapers have peddled the false claim that popular Iranian singer-songwriter Andranik Madadian had been detained by the National Guard in Los Angeles, in an apparent effort to portray the United States as an authoritarian state. NewsGuard quoted Madadian, better known by his stage name Andy, as denying the claim, stating: "I am fine. Please don't believe these rumors." Russian media and pro-Russian influencers, meanwhile, has embraced right-wing conspiracy theories, including the unfounded claim that the Mexican government was stoking the demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies. "The demonstrations are unfolding at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities such as eroded trust in institutions, AI chatbots amplifying false claims about the unrest, political polarization, and a rollback of safety and moderation efforts by major platforms," McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP. "As a result, foreign actors have a wide-open playing field to flood the zone with falsehoods at a faster rate and fewer barriers compared to previous moments of unrest," she added. The apparent alignment across the three countries was noteworthy, Sadeghi said. "While Russia, China, and Iran regularly push their own unique forms of disinformation, it's less common to see them move in such a coordinated fashion like this," she said. "This time, state media outlets have escalated their messaging to advance their geopolitical interests and deflect attention from their own domestic crises." The disinformation comes on top of false narratives promoted by US-based influencers. In recent days, conservative social media users have circulated two photographs of brick piles they claimed were strategically placed for the California protesters to hurl at police and inflame violence. The photos were cited as proof that the protests were fueled by nonprofit organizations supported by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman for the far right. But AFP's fact-checkers found that one photo was lifted from an online marketplace, where a Malaysian hardware dealer uploaded it years ago, while the other was snapped near a construction site in New Jersey. "Every time there's a popular protest, the old clickbaity 'pallets of bricks' hoax shows up right on cue," the Social Media Lab, a research center at the Toronto Metropolitan University, wrote on the platform Bluesky. "The fact that these types of fake images are used isn't a coincidence. It's part of a pernicious (and) persistent narrative that protests against government policies are somehow inauthentic."
