TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has been waging a “smokeless war” against Taiwan for years and is expanding its tactics to other countries, the chief of Taiwan’s top intelligence agency said Wednesday (Nov. 1).

Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥), director general of the National Security Bureau (NSB), made the remarks during a speech at the 2023 Taiwan-Western Asia & Africa Forum on Regional Security and Transnational Crime in Taipei City. He emphasized Taiwan would continue on a path of international cooperation in favor of regional stability.

China was trying to influence the outcome of the Jan. 13,  presidential and legislative elections by a combination of tactics, Tsai said. He named military threats, diplomatic pressure, economic measures, and cyber attacks, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported.

The communist country was stealing confidential information and talent from Taiwanese businesses, while also pressuring Taiwanese investors to take a political stance. Beijing’s tactics had become an international security issue, with the problems faced by Taiwan expanding to other countries, Tsai said.