Mashup Video of Taiwanese Legislator Goes Viral on Chinese Social Media

TaiwanPlus News

A video of a Taiwanese legislator is going viral on Chinese social media, leading to debate over whether it is part of Beijing's "united front" tactics to influence Taiwan.

Transcript

00:00A Taiwanese legislator going viral on Chinese social media.

00:04The video splices together past soundbites from Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party

00:29legislator Wang Shijian. It was posted by a Chinese content creator on Douyin,

00:34the Chinese version of TikTok, earlier this month and already has around 930,000 views.

00:41The comments largely positive, some of them appearing to be from Taiwan IP addresses,

00:47one person calling Wang Taiwan's newest, most popular singer. And other social media users

00:52have created their own versions. But at least one Taiwan legislator is urging people not to watch.

00:59United Front work refers to China's efforts to influence Taiwan. China views Taiwan as part of

01:21its territory and has been ramping up intimidation and influence tactics against the country,

01:25including on social media, with the aim of bringing Taiwan under its control.

01:31There is some evidence of this video being associated with this goal.

01:35The original Chinese content creator later posted a separate video writing in the caption that he's

01:40suddenly seeing so many people from Taiwan IP addresses commenting on his videos and saying

01:45that he, quote, welcomes Taiwanese compatriots to come home. And in a press conference,

01:50the Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson said he was impressed by the

01:54creativity of social media users on both sides of the street, and later even appeared to quote the

02:00video, using it to accuse Taiwan's semiconductor industry of scrambling to survive. But when Taiwan's

02:07top national security official was pressed on whether his bureau would be investigating the video,

02:11he appeared to indicate that it wasn't that serious a case.

02:14And one expert says there are a number of different reasons why the creator might have made this video.

02:32For one, it's in his usual style, using music to create funny videos. And for another, Chinese

02:38President Xi Jinping has cracked down on Chinese people making fun of matters related to their own

02:43politics. So they may turn elsewhere.

02:58But whether the video was made in good fun or with ulterior motives, it seems both sides of the

03:03straight will be watching to see how its impact plays out. Patrick Chen and Cadence Quaranta for Taiwan Plus.

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