How China’s Influence Campaigns Operate in Taiwan and Beyond

TaiwanPlus News

China has long used its United Front Work Department to push its claims on Taiwan’s sovereignty and assist espionage efforts in Taiwan. The department uses business and cultural exchanges to influence Taiwan in everything from public opinion to politics. Now, a new report from Washington-based think tank the Jamestown Foundation suggests Beijing is intensifying its efforts. In this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, Cheryl Yu, a Jamestown China fellow and united front work analyst, discusses how united front tactics are changing.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to Zoom in, Zoom out, your global look at news from Taiwan. I'm Rick Lowert.

00:18China uses its United Front workgroup to push its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan

00:22and to help it in its efforts to annex the country. The United Front has been using cultural

00:27and business exchanges across the strait to exert its influence and to destabilize Taiwan.

00:33A new report by Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Jamestown Foundation,

00:38says Beijing's tactics are intensifying. Today, to discuss United Front work and influence in Taiwan

00:45and abroad, we're joined by China Studies Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, Cheryl Yu. Cheryl,

00:52welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me.

00:55So my first question is to ask you to introduce the United Front. We often hear a lot about it

01:01when it comes to China's influence on Taiwan, but could you explain what the United Front is?

01:06So United Front is one of the three magic weapons that the party uses to achieve its goal.

01:13So according to Mao Zedong, he said that the purpose of United Front is to storm and shatter

01:18the enemy's positions. So United Front work is essentially about cultivating friends and building

01:24relationship the party can exploit to advance its goal when necessary. Like according to Xi Jinping,

01:30the party aims to achieve the so-called great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is to

01:36rise to great power capability and status and replace the United States as the dominant power in

01:42the international order. And part of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has always

01:47been to annex or unify to annex or unify Taiwan.

01:49And what does the work of the United Front look like? What is China doing?

01:54I think on the intentions of the party. So Xi Jinping has said that the party aims to achieve

02:01the so-called great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, which is to rise to a great power capability

02:07and status and replace the United States on the global stage. And Taiwan is a big part of its effort

02:13into achieving the so-called great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In Taiwan's case, United Front

02:19activities are usually masked as like, say, for example, local level exchanges, people to people

02:26exchanges, youth dialogues or economic activities. So they actually look like just normal activities that

02:33other countries also do. But I think it's important to keep the party's intention in mind when looking at

02:38their activities, which is to try to build up a network of its friends in Taiwan that it can use

02:44when time comes. So they have been saying a thought that Taiwan is part of the PRC and has always been.

02:50So that's kind of like the message that they want to keep pushing out and that China is great and Taiwan

02:56should be part of it. And eventually it has it had been and it should be.

03:00A lot of the exchanges across the Strait look fairly innocuous from the outside. There's a lot of

03:06shared culture, language and business interests across the Strait. How do we know that there is

03:12malicious intent behind these actions by China? So I think it's essentially it would be to go back to

03:19what the party has been saying and understand what they mean by by that. And so that's kind of like the

03:26general thing that I think that when engaging with the PRC that we should keep in mind. And a lot of times

03:32when they are carrying out these activities, it's traceable because you can see that the party

03:38would be using certain types of organizations or agencies. Although to the party, United Front work

03:45is essentially the work of the whole party. So every government agencies or party agencies have this

03:50responsibility to carry that out. But like Taiwanese citizens or the government, it's possible to trace

03:57each of each of the events and who the organizers are, who the sponsors are, who is speaking at events and

04:02things like that. Recently, we know in particular, there's been an uptick in industry exchanges, exchanges

04:09between business people in Taiwan and China. What is China trying to do with these exchanges?

04:15As part of the PRC's goal, they are trying to use these exchange to send their messages and to build. So on

04:24one hand, send the message to show that the PRC is great. And on the other hand, trying to use these

04:30exchange activities as a node to connect with people who attend the events and then to eventually build

04:39out its network that it's able to like access to be able to reach more people in Taiwan.

04:46And this kind of work and this kind of influence is part of China's broader campaign against Taiwan.

04:52How does this fit in with other tools it uses such as espionage, cyber warfare, political interference?

04:59I think building out this united front network for the PRC is very, it's kind of like the first step

05:06for them to do the next thing. So the first step is to build out this network. And then the next step,

05:11it would be having their friends. So people in this network to further do the things that they requested.

05:18So for example, there are a few cases previously on espionage, we can see that how they got recruited

05:25as a spy as to they might involved in some kind of like activities engaging in the PRC. So that's kind

05:33of like the start of them using this network or trying to build out this network. And then eventually,

05:39when the PRC make the request, they will be able to use them to get the things that they need

05:44for their goal. How have you seen China's tactics in this area change?

05:49I would say like United Front is essentially about building people to people connections. But as time

05:56evolves, there are new technologies that the party uses, for example, WeChat and other kinds of

06:02communication tools for them to like reach out to more people or build the network. But I think at the

06:09core, it's still building human connections and then utilize the relationship when it needs to.

06:15Taiwan's President Lai Qingda has flagged the danger of Chinese infiltration of Taiwan.

06:21He's flagged espionage, cyber attacks and also coercion like this. How aware are Taiwan's public of the

06:31risk that they are facing when it comes to Chinese influence?

06:34I think more and more people are starting to be aware. It's being discussed a lot in the media and

06:41on social media. And I think President Lai's commitment is definitely helping with moving

06:48the discussion forward. I think it's the first time that the President of Taiwan talked about national

06:54security threats clearly and directly. I know that he acknowledged the PRC as a hostile external

07:01force, which I think would help the society better understand or recognize the situation that Taiwan

07:06is currently in with the PRC. So I think people are getting more aware, although currently the

07:12discussion has been a bit divided because of the political environment. But it's essentially good to

07:18have more debate and discussion so that more people would be aware of what the PRC is doing and

07:24be aware of its intentions.

07:30China and Taiwan have a long and quite complicated history. They're obviously linked. There's shared

07:34culture, shared history, shared language. How easy is it to differentiate between innocent cultural

07:41exchanges and those that have a more malign intent by China?

07:45I'm not sure if there's like real innocent cross-strait exchanges. United Front work

07:52is the work of the whole party. So every government agencies or party agency has this responsibility

07:58to carry out United Front activities and to help build out the relations. I think if the Taiwanese

08:05government or generally like for people who are participating in events, if they look at the funders

08:11of the events, if they look at hosts or co-hosts of events, the participants, the speakers, they'll be

08:18able to tell that a lot of times it's linked with the United Front system in the PRC. I think it's important

08:25for Taiwan to keep in mind that the PRC's intention when engaging with them in events like that. So one will

08:35be able to discover the subtle difference between those activities that appear constructive on the surface

08:40and their underlying purpose of advancing the party's goal, which is in Taiwan's cases to annex or unify Taiwan.

08:47And you mentioned earlier the political situation in Taiwan. That's a lot of bad feeling between

08:53Taiwan's main political parties. The two main opposition parties have control of the legislature,

08:58whilst the ruling Democratic Progressive Party has control of the presidency and the cabinet.

09:04Did this kind of big bipartisan friction make Taiwan more at risk to influence by China?

09:10I think that's definitely like one of the things that the CCP is trying to exploit,

09:16which is to cause this kind of like distrust and conflict from within. But we also did notice that

09:23the CCP has been so like you said, like they're trying to build relationship with, say, the KMT.

09:29But we also see that the CCP is actually trying to build relationship with all parties, including the

09:36ruling party, because I think the CCP sees that or they understand that there are factions within those

09:42parties. So they would want to try to cultivate individuals in both parties. In the opposition

09:48party of their KMT, it can be easily observed on surface that its senior leaders are relatively

09:55receptive to the party's United Front relationship building activities. They often meet with like

10:01top United Front system individuals. And I think just the past few days, they also had people who just

10:06met with the head of the Taiwan Affairs Office. But on the other hand, the CCP is also trying to

10:12cultivate relationship with the ruling party. Although usually when they are cultivating this kind of

10:18relationship, it's more subtle. It seems like both sides, so the CCP and also the DPP don't want to

10:26highlight any connections it makes. So it makes things harder to observe. But I think recent, like

10:34say, espionage cases recently kind of demonstrate that the CCP has been trying to also cultivate

10:41relationship with individuals in the DPP. It's just that the way that they cultivate relationship

10:48is different from how they are doing it with the KMT. So with the DPP, it's more like they're trying to

10:54cultivate relationship with individuals from lower level. And then with the KMT, it's more like a top

11:00down. Do you think Taiwan is doing enough to counter Chinese influence? I think it's moving in the right

11:06direction. So the things that you said about President Lai giving talk about national security threats,

11:16and directly acknowledging the PRC as hostile external force, I think that's definitely moving

11:22things into the right direction to help people better recognize the issue. But still a lot more

11:28things that they can do to make things better. I know there are legislators trying to push for,

11:36say, the security clearance system in Taiwan, and also, say, a reporting system for officials visiting

11:42or traveling to the PRC. Those are the things that needs to be done at some point. But I think

11:48generally, currently, it's moving in the right direction. And just to put this into a global

11:54context, Taiwan is obviously in a unique position in that it is claimed by China. But we know that China

12:00is trying to exert its authority, exert its influence all over the world. How does the United Front works

12:07that we've been seeing against Taiwan fit into the picture more globally? How is China trying to

12:13influence other countries around the world? I would say the intention is very similar, the tactics is

12:18very similar. But when they're doing it elsewhere, so for example, in the United States, in the UK,

12:25or in Canada, Germany, they try to reach out to the people they know best first. So for example,

12:31overseas Chinese communities are a big target of theirs when they're conducting this kind of United

12:37Front network building events overseas. So they try to reach out to, say, a local hometown association

12:44individual in, say, Los Angeles or in New York, and then try to build out that network from there.

12:50So that's a little bit different from Taiwan, because Taiwan, apparently, the language is the same,

12:55and it's easier for the CCP to directly influence everyone in Taiwan. But when they are doing that,

13:01globally, they try to reach out to overseas Chinese individuals or organizations as their first

13:08node to create a bigger network. So and then they would use this network that they built to

13:15further their goal. So for example, influencing local governments or conducting technology transfers,

13:23or trying to advance their goal, something related to Taiwan, for example, they would try to use these

13:29local Chinese overseas organizations to push for the local government to pass a legislation that's

13:41against Taiwan or claiming that Taiwan is part of the PRC or their political goals like that.

13:47Shaul, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been great to have your insights on the show.

13:52Thank you, Rick, for having me. It's a pleasure to be on your show.

13:55This has been Zoom In, Zoom Out. You can find more stories from Taiwan and around the world by going

14:00to the Taiwan Plus website or following us on social media. I'm Rick Lowert and we will see you next time.

14:24In the face of adversity, the power of truth.

14:47A roadmap for a just and open world charted by the freest country in Asia.

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