TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China is waging intense hybrid warfare against Taiwan, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said in an interview with Le Monde.

Beijing employs misinformation, cyberattacks, infiltration, and economic pressure as tactics to undermine Taiwan, Wu said. The security situation in the Taiwan Strait is not good, as China's military threat against Taiwan is increasing, especially over the past two years, he said.

Despite this, the foreign minister said war is neither imminent nor inevitable. He noted that China’s coercive tactics have changed the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. China no longer respects it, he said, pointing to daily Chinese incursions of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and large-scale exercises near Taiwan’s maritime borders. This is unprecedented, he said.

China is also attempting to convince the world to accept that Taiwan is legally part of China, Wu said, frequently citing United Nations Resolution 2758. The resolution only recognizes the People's Republic of China (PRC) as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and does not mention Taiwan’s (Republic of China) political status.

The People's Republic of China has never stepped foot in Taiwan, nor has it ruled Taiwan for a day, Wu said.

As Taiwan’s presidential election nears, China is trying to frame it as a choice "between war and peace," or "prosperity [if the Kuomintang wins] and economic slowdown [if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wins]," Wu said.

The DPP has defended the status quo in the Taiwan Strait for the past eight years, he said, highlighting the "moderate and responsible" stance President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) maintained since she took office in 2016. Tsai has worked hard to "ensure that the Chinese government does not have any excuse to launch a war against Taiwan," Wu said.