With the 9-in-1 election approaching, Huang Chongyan, an advisory member of the National Security Council, admitted in an exclusive interview with this newspaper that China wants to mobilize specific ethnic groups to enter our country's democratic operation system. "There is no doubt that this happens every day." The purpose is to weaken Taiwan. Just one or two more extreme politicians can intensify confrontation and make it difficult for society to reach a consensus. It will also become a risk for the advancement of major bills. "There is no need to beat you, just let you quarrel every day."
Huang Chongyan analyzed that China's interference in elections is no longer news in the world. In addition to the recent confirmation by the United States that China interfered many times during the last presidential election, it also included launching a smear campaign against some Canadian democratic Chinese congressmen, inciting confrontation in the Chinese community to force the congressman to step down, and providing financial support to pro-Beijing people in Australia to run for office.
When asked about the intention of many Chinese or pro-China people to run for elections in Taiwan in recent years, Huang Chongyan responded that for democratic countries, as long as they comply with legal rules, for example, to run for election in Taiwan, you must be a national of the Republic of China, and you must give up your right of residence in other countries, green cards, etc., which is the same for everyone; if you have Chinese nationality at the same time, the Election Committee and other units will also strictly check.
As for whether China wants to use this to manipulate relevant people to run for elections and enter our country's democratic system? Huang Chongyan bluntly said that there is no doubt that this is happening every day. This is consistent with Beijing's purpose of operating cognitive warfare, which is to use democratic procedures to weaken the democratic system. As long as one or two more extreme politicians intensify opposition and create polarized politics, making it difficult for society to build consensus, it will not be beneficial to the development of any democratic country.
Huang Chongyan went on to say that once these people are elected and enter democratic operation, they can become risky forces, such as boycotting important bills. The national security policy amendments introduced by President Lai have still been shelved. In fact, regardless of political party, not all legislators are opposed, but there are always people who jump out to guide the trend and throw dirty water. On the other hand, through the work of other organizations, relevant law amendments cannot be carried out. Many democratic countries have the same experience, and the risks are multi-faceted. Beijing's real goal is to weaken Taiwan. "I don't need to beat you, just let you quarrel every day." If there is a quarrel, there will be no time to buy the three necessary drones, and society will not be united. It may even leak important and sensitive information in order to repair the other party, causing Taiwan to fall into division.
In addition, Huang Chongyan also said that Taiwan is like "a living encyclopedia of China's election". China introduces AI technology and innovates new methods at any time, such as producing tens of thousands of "live accounts" with real-time interactive capabilities overnight, and deliberately targeting former President Tsai Ing-wen and current President Tsai Ing-wen. President Lai Ching-te and Legislator Shen Boyang, who is running for mayor of Taipei, and others have generated a large number of AI videos; even in last year's presidential election of a certain political party, some camps noticed traces of meddling, which was because Taiwan's relevant laws and regulations were not comprehensive, and they used joking and difficult-to-distinguish methods to confuse the public.
In addition, social platforms have also evolved into a new form of "training and killing." Huang Chongyan revealed that many health-preserving channels have recently appeared on YouTube. They usually attract traffic with harmless common sense such as "get up early and drink three glasses of warm water." But when the critical moment comes, dozens of channels will simultaneously turn to content that promotes specific candidates or attacks opponents. We are paying close attention to such operations and communicating with international friends to make every effort to strengthen the information resilience and democratic resilience of society. We also call on the public to be more vigilant when seeing such suspicious information and avoid passing it on.
