Taiwanese Warned of CCP Influence Ahead of Crucial Election
11th Jan 2024
A Taiwan national flag flutters near the Taipei 101 building at the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 7, 2023.(Photo: AP)
As Taiwan’s presidential election approaches, individuals with direct encounters with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are warning about the CCP’s attempts to sway the polls on Jan. 13.
Such warnings come as Beijing has repeatedly sent fighter planes, warships, and spy balloons around Taiwan—officially the Republic of China—to pressure Taiwanese voters.
Meanwhile, the communist regime on the mainland has been using AI technology, combined with social media, such as PTT, TikTok, Xiaohongshu, YouTube, etc., to launch a “cognitive war” in an attempt to influence voting.
Amid this, an independent current affairs commentator on X, originally from China, has called on Taiwanese people to safeguard their independence, democracy, and freedom via voting if they don’t want to suffer the same fate as Chinese people under the CCP’s rule.
In the latest post on his account, Xinwendiaocha, on Jan.9, he posted eight questions for Taiwanese people comparing the situations that mainland Chinese people live in.
“Have Taiwanese people ever thought about:
Why don’t Taiwanese eat gutter oil, drink melamine milk, and breathe smoggy air?
Why do Taiwanese people have free medical care and free schooling, while the Chinese people jump off the building if they can’t afford to see a doctor?
Why are the pensions for 65-year-olds in Taiwan so high, while many people in China only have more than 100 yuan ($14) a month?
Why do Taiwanese people have permanent property rights over their houses and no need to worry about them being forcefully demolished?
Why are Taiwanese people doing business on the streets without being beaten by city management staff?
Why don’t Taiwanese people worry about being monitored or their organs being harvested, and why is there no need to jump over a firewall [to access information freely]?
Why can a small section chief in China embezzle billions of dollars, but Taiwan doesn’t have [such corruption]?
Why can Taiwanese people criticize their president freely, while Chinese people may be arrested if they criticize a small government department director?”
He answered the questions: “It boils down to the fact that Taiwanese people have the votes to get rid of incompetent presidents and political parties.”
He went on to warn: “If a pro-CCP party comes to power this time, the good days of Taiwanese people will be over.”
He called on Taiwanese voters: “Friends who vote must keep their eyes open.”
The post followed a Jan. 6 post that was widely reported on by major Chinese language media outside mainland China, in which he listed 14 reasons not to vote for someone pro-CCP who will carry out CCP’s agenda, which is to annex Taiwan through covert means.
He warned in that post, “If Taiwanese people vote for anyone pro-CCP this time, Taiwan is likely to return to the embrace of the CCP under the one country, one system framework like Hong Kong.
“At that time, you will enjoy the following ‘benefits’,” under which he listed the 14 major sufferings that the Chinese people experience under CCP rule, including ”heavy taxes and the longest working hours in the world, lack of basic rights, safety, and liberty, and the horrific human rights abuses they suffered in the hands of the CCP.”
Warning From Inside China
Mr. Wang, an 80-year-old—whose parents were high-ranking CCP officials—in mainland China, told The Epoch Times what he thought society there had become.
“Mainland Chinese people’s hearts and souls have been fundamentally distorted by the CCP. We envy people in Taiwan who can live in a free and democratic society; it is so happy, and we want to fight for it so much,” he said.
Mr. Wang said that the CCP always accused Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen (DPP), of seeking Taiwan’s independence. “We should ask the CCP, has Tsai Ing-wen sold out any piece of Taiwan land to other countries? Jiang Zemin [former CCP leader] sold more than one million square kilometers (386,100 square miles) of China’s territory to Russia, which is the size of dozens of Taiwans. You can tell who separates China and who is a traitor with just a glance,” he said.
“I hope Taiwanese people will never believe in the CCP. It’s the most evil political party in the world.”
Businessman Jailed in China
Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu was secretly arrested after entering China in August 2019 over a few pieces of pro-Hong Kong democracy literature found in his luggage.
He was later found guilty of “spying for external entities” and “illegally providing state secrets”. He was sentenced in January 2021 to 22 months in prison and deprivation of political rights for two years.
In 2020, during detention, he was forced to confess to being a “Taiwan spy” on the CCP’s national TV network CCTV and apologize to the “motherland”.
He was released in July 2023 and returned to Taiwan in September.
Mr. Lee said that during the trial, “The CCP prosecutor accused me of supporting American-style democracy, supporting Taiwan’s elections, and opposing one country, two systems. But don’t 99 percent of Taiwanese think this way?”
As to the rhetoric that if people supported pro-CCP candidates, then maybe the Taiwan Strait would be more peaceful and the probability of war would be relatively small, Mr. Lee said it wouldn’t.
“As long as you’ve voted, you’ve already got your ticket to the concentration camp [if the CCP takes over Taiwan through their proxy].”
He advised Taiwanese voters, “Don’t have illusions about the CCP, they can’t be negotiated with.”
Frontrunner Surveys
According to three frontrunner surveys in recent days, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te—also known as William Lai—and his vice presidential candidate, Hsiao Bi-khim, lead the polls by a narrow margin. Behind them is the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate and incumbent New Taipei Mayor, Hou Yu-ih, and his vice presidential candidate, Jaw Shaw-kong.
Coming in third is Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate, former surgeon Ko Wen-je, and his running mate, Cynthia Wu, who aim to offer voters “a third choice.”
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