TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In a new report titled, “Beijing's Global Media Influence 2022: Authoritarian Expansion and the Power of Democratic Resilience,” U.S. government-funded nonprofit organization Freedom House ranked Taiwan as “resilient” against China’s media influence efforts.
According to the report’s findings on Taiwan, the country faced the most intense Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence efforts between the report’s 2019-2021 coverage period, but also “mounted the strongest response.” However, as milder efforts failed to achieve desired results, China became more aggressive, confrontational, or surreptitious.
In the first category of China’s media influence efforts included in the report, “propaganda and promotion of favored narratives,” Freedom House listed paid advertorial content in local media, co-produced content, content-sharing agreements, Beijing-friendly content produced by local media, subsidized journalist trips, and training for social media influencers as key avenues of content dissemination.
By working with pro-China media or through illegal means, China promoted propaganda in Taiwan with the goals of sowing local divisions, harming the country’s foreign relations, and destabilizing its government.
Another category of media influence efforts is “disinformation campaigns,” which Freedom House dubs “one of the most prominent avenues.” The campaigns that purposefully spread false or misleading information through “inauthentic activity” such as fake social media accounts, focused on issues including the Hong Kong protests, Taiwan-U.S. relations, and Taiwan’s domestic politics.
Misleading China articles
The first known case of such a campaign appeared in late 2018, per Freedom House, when “Chinese state media ran misleading articles about the evacuation of foreign nationals following a typhoon in Japan” that led to the suicide of a Taiwanese diplomat. However, Freedom House wrote that the efforts eventually backfired, as they taught Taiwan to be wary of misleading messages and public opinion manipulation.
While the CCP also seeks to influence Taiwanese media by targeting journalists and media outlets within China with “censorship and intimidation,” pro-China media outlets in Taiwan tend to self-censor as well. Aside from direct censorship, indirect censorship means include defamation lawsuits to stifle reporting, denied deals with businesses that have interests in China, as well as cyber- and physical attacks.
The final category of China’s media influence efforts named in the report was “dissemination of CCP media norms, tactics, or governance models.” Though it is unlikely for the Taiwanese government to adopt such practices, nongovernment agencies may do so to protect their interests in China.
In terms of Taiwan’s response to China’s unceasing attempts to manipulate Taiwan’s politics and public opinion, Freedom House lauded Taiwanese civil society as being “instrumental” in raising public awareness of China’s media influence. It wrote that relevant parties have taken action “in the form of mass demonstrations, legislative advocacy, journalist training, disinformation investigations, and media literacy programs.”
Knowledge, expertise, and resilience
The report described Taiwan’s civil society as having a high degree of expertise and knowledge of China, as well as organizations working to improve Taiwan’s media environment, develop media literacy, and boost awareness of CCP influence.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's media has an “underlying” resilience thanks to media outlets’ investigative media skills and dedicated China coverage, pushback against China and refusal to join deals, strategies to resist censorship, development of new funding strategies, and media training on CCP influence.
In terms of laws and regulations, Taiwan provided “robust” legal protections; introduced new legislation on disinformation, foreign interference, and media investment; and oversaw media outlets with the National Communications Commission.
Nonetheless, Taiwan remains vulnerable to China’s influence due to several factors. Per the report, Taiwan has a “weak press council tasked with handling complaints” and lacks legislation on “cross-ownership of outlets in different media formats” as well as regulations on transparency. Politically, there is a “partisan division over CCP influence,” while commercially, businesses are not resistant to advertising pressure.