Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu called on the world to take strict precautions against China’s attempts to manipulate democracies’ election results and defend rules-based international order.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wu’s remarks came in an article he was invited to contribute to London-based magazine The Economist headlined “Taiwan’s Coming Election: What Is at Stake?” published Jan. 3 on its website, in the lead up to Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections set to take place Jan. 13.
According to Wu, since Taiwan’s first direct presidential election in 1996, China has attempted to interfere with the process of each election through military threats and economic coercion, using Taiwan’s free and open society to manipulate public opinion through cyber warfare and disinformation.
Citing a report quoting a U.S. security official published last month in The New York Times, the minister said Beijing may use artificial intelligence to spread disinformation in an attempt to sway election results in democracies.
As Taiwan is on the front line of China’s authoritarian expansion, Beijing uses Taiwan to test its autocratic influence, Wu said. He cautioned that if China succeeds in influencing Taiwan’s democratic election, it will employ the same tactics in other parts of the free world. The global community needs to take serious measures to counteract China’s interference, he said.
The minister thanked members of the democratic world for voicing support for Taiwan at various global venues, and urged the international community to express grave concern over China’s attempts to sabotage Taiwan’s democratic processes. (SFC-E)
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