Taiwan Warns Against China's Online Cognitive Warfare Campaigns

TaiwanPlus News

Fake drone footage posted to the Chinese networking app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, that appears to show a Taiwanese military base has prompted officials in Taiwan to issue a warning about China’s online cognitive warfare.

Transcript

00:00Stay vigilant against online propaganda. That's the message from officials here in Taiwan.

00:06There are growing fears that Chinese social media apps are hosting content that could threaten Taiwan's national security.

00:13Rhys airs this live in our Taipei newsroom with the details.

00:16Rhys, the apps that are causing worry are the hugely popular Red Note and Douyin.

00:21Why are they being viewed as a potential threat?

00:23Well, yeah, there was a video posted to Red Note, known as Shaohong Su in Chinese,

00:34that appeared to show some drone footage of a military base in Hualien.

00:39That's in Taiwan's east coast.

00:42Now, it's illegal to fly drones of any military bases in Taiwan, as it is in many places.

00:47And the defense minister has come out to say that actually the footage that was posted online was digitally composed

00:54and that there was no evidence of any drone activity in Hualien at the time.

01:00Though he does admit that the drones are hard to spot because of their small size

01:04and that Taiwan is currently working on better drone detection systems,

01:09particularly around the outlying islands of Taiwan,

01:13which are just kilometers from the coast of China, where Chinese drone activity is more common.

01:19Now, the defense minister has said that while these videos are faked,

01:24that they do point to a wider issue here,

01:27and that's of China's continuing attempts to, you know,

01:32conduct these cognitive warfare campaigns against Taiwan.

01:36Now, for a bit more on what exactly that means and what those campaigns look like,

01:40I spoke earlier to Eric Hsu.

01:43He's a researcher at Double Think Lab.

01:47That's a civil society organization that focuses on researching Chinese influence campaigns

01:53and disinformation campaigns.

01:55And I started our conversation by asking him about what kinds of content we might expect to see

02:01on these platforms trying to influence Taiwanese society.

02:05It often uses something really soft and delicate strategy to achieve their goal.

02:14For example, if we're using the content to criticize in Taiwanese democratic system

02:20or complaining that Taiwanese life costing is too high

02:23or the other kind of domestic issue in order to trigger people's anxiety and anger

02:29and further distrust our system, the United Front Walk or information manipulation strategy on TikTok

02:36is mainly trying to reduce people's sensitivity to PRC threats

02:42and also their resistance ideas with facing invasion.

02:46How are China's cognitive warfare campaigns evolving over time?

02:51I think compared with several years ago, at that moment, they're still really focusing

02:56on creating misinformation or disinformation in order to convince people to trust something

03:02may not actually true.

03:03However, the strategy is slightly changed.

03:07It's using more what we call information manipulation strategy in order that the point is to trigger

03:14people's negative image and then to increase in the polarization among Taiwanese society.

03:19So, and eventually when we distrust the system, it kind of achieves their goal.

03:27Now, in light of this most recent case on Xiao Hongshu and, you know, other campaigns online by Beijing,

03:35Taiwan is urging schools to have more and better media literacy classes for young people.

03:41But also, you know, something Eric agreed with when I spoke to him,

03:45but he also added that people of all ages need to be wary that when they're consuming content online,

03:51if there is a video that makes you feel particularly strong emotions,

03:56that you should maybe be online to the fact that that video could be trying to manipulate you

04:01in one way or another.

04:04Officials are also warning more generally about Taiwanese people using Chinese software,

04:09not just for these cognitive warfare campaigns, but also just because of data privacy issues.

04:17You know, Red Note is quite popular here in Taiwan, particularly with young people.

04:22It even had a surge in popularity over in the United States when TikTok was facing its ban there.

04:28But, you know, back here in China, in Taiwan, China and Taiwan, they share a common language.

04:34And so there are fears that, you know, apps like Douyin and Red Note are pretty good Trojan horses,

04:42if you like, for Beijing to push their agenda here in Taiwan.

04:49Thanks, Rhys.

04:50That was Rhys Ayers reporting live in Taipei.

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