Chinese Information Manipulation Against Taiwan

IORG Research on Chinese Influence Operations Against Taiwan

IORG has completed 8 case studies on suspected Chinese information manipulation against Taiwan. 7 out of 8 (B.1-7) are case studies of specific events. The following compares these 7 cases in their CCP involvement, key disseminating nodes, collaborators, and narratives.

CCP involvement

Case

Time frame starts

Time frame ends

Earliest posts

CCP involvement

Chinese state media

B.1 Kansai Airport

2018.9

2018.9

  • Post by Weibo account “Flood beast baby” (洪水猛兽 baby)
  • Post by Weibo account “Hon-good product mini” (本-良品 mini)

Proven

  • Consulate-General of PRC in Osaka

B.2 Chen Chu is corrupt

2019.4

2019.12

  • Report by CN media “Phenix News Agency” (鳳凰新聞社)
  • Post by Facebook account “Howard Fang”

Insufficient data

None

B.3 American influenza is deadlier than COVID-19

2020.1

2020.4

  • Report by CN state media “The Paper” (澎湃新聞)

Proven

  • The Paper
  • WeChat OAP “This Is America (这里是美国) operated by Global Times

B.4 U.S. spreads coronavirus through Wuhan World Military Games

2020.1

2020.6

  • Article by udn blog “Red Square 123”
  • Post by Facebook account “Master Wang”
  • Post by CN state-affiliated media “Kunlunce” (昆仑策研究院)

Proven

  • CCTV
  • People’s Daily
  • State-affiliated media “Kunlunce”

B.5 American influenza is COVID-19

2020.2

2020.5

  • Modified report from Asahi Shimbun
  • Political Commentary Program “This Is Not News” of TW media EBC
  • Tweet by PRC Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Li-jian
  • Report by northjersey.com

Proven

  • PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson
  • People’s Daily
  • China News Service
  • Global Times

B.6 Liberate America

2020.5

2020.6

  • Post by Facebook page “China Heart” (中国心)

Proven

  • Facebook page “China Heart” operated by Chinese Communist Youth League

B.7 Central Election Commission’s vote tampering

2019.6

2020.8

  • Report by TW media CTWant
  • Post by Facebook account “Lin Shan-Ru” (林珊如) at public group “Trump for the World (於公神使川普建喜樂臺港)
  • Post by Wang Yan-Jun (王彥濬) at Facebook public group “China Common People’s Party” (中國庶民黨)

Insufficient data

None

Key disseminating nodes

Case

China

Hongkong

Taiwan news media & political commentary programs

Taiwan social media

Others

B.1 Kansai Airport

  • Media “Guancha Syndicate” (观察者网)

None

  • Apple Daily
  • Other TW news media & political commentary programs
  • Gossiping & Japan_Travel of PTT

None

B.2 Chen Chu is corrupt

  • Media “Phoenix News Agency” (鳳凰新聞社)

None

None

  • Facebook account “Howard Fang”

None

B.3 American influenza is deadlier than COVID-19

  • State media “The Paper” (澎湃新聞)
  • WeChat OAP “This Is America” (这里是美国) operated by state media Global Times

None

  • Liberty Times
  • CTWant
  • “Situation Room” (少康戰情室) of TVBS

None

None

B.4 U.S. spreads coronavirus through Wuhan World Military Games

  • State media CCTV
  • State media People’s Daily
  • State-affiliated media “Kunlunce”
  • Facebook page “Ting-Ting Sees the World” (婷婷看世界)
  • YouTube “Ho CK Jonathan” (何志光)
  • Facebook account “HK.Peter”
  • Facebook page “China Dream” (中國夢)
  • Facebook page “Sunglassgor” (黑超哥)
  • Facebook page “Ko Chi-Sum” (高志森)
  • “This Is Not News” (這不是新聞) of EBC
  • “57 Blast News” (57 爆新聞) of EBC
  • Facebook page “Master Wang” (王大師)
  • udn blog “Red Square 123”

B.5 American influenza is COVID-19

  • Twitter account of PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson
  • State media Global Times
  • State media People’s Daily
  • State media China News Service
  • State-affiliated media “Tencent Net” (腾讯网)
  • Facebook page “Ting-Ting Sees the World” (婷婷看世界)
  • YouTube “Ho CK Jonathan” (何志光)
  • Facebook page “Sunglassgor” (黑超哥)
  • “This Is Not News” of EBC
  • YouTube “phoenixbinbini TV”
  • YouTube “Shi-Chang” (石昌)
  • Malaysian content farm “Qu-Xiang Net” (趣享網), “Qiqu” (奇趣網)
  • Malaysian Chinese-language news media “See Hua Daily News” (詩華日報)
  • North American Chinese-language news media “World Journal” (世界新聞網)

B.6 Liberate America

  • Facebook page “China Heart” operated by Chinese Communist Youth League
  • Pro-China Facebook pages “Global Chinese Glory Alliance”, “Global Chinese Information Alliance”, “Global Chinese Military Alliance”
  • Facebook page “Hongkongers Protect Our Home Together” (香港人、齊保家)

None

  • Facebook page “Anti-Tsai Fans Group” (反蔡英文粉絲團)
  • Facebook page “Han’s Army Die-hard Fan Alliance” (韓家軍鐵粉聯盟)
  • Malaysian Facebook page “I Am Kedah” (我是吉打人)

B.7 Central Election Commission’s vote tampering

None

None

  • CTWant
  • TVBS
  • Other TW news media & political commentary programs
  • YouTube “True Voice of Taiwan (政經關不了)
  • YouTube “108 Studio” (108 演播室)

None

Taiwan local collaborator, behavior, possible goals

Case

News media & political commentary programs

Facebook pages

Clustered posting

Cross-regional dissemination

Possible goals

B.1 Kansai Airport

Yes

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

  • Reinforce image that Chinese government is efficient and resourceful internationally
  • Reinforce image that Taiwanese government is incompenent
  • Affect Taiwan’s 2018 elections

B.2 Chen Chu is corrupt

No

Yes

Yes

No

  • Reinforce image that Taiwan’s ruling party and government is corrupt
  • Affect Taiwan’s 2020 elections

B.3 American influenza is deadlier than COVID-19

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

  • Shift public opinion focus away from COVID-19
  • Affect image of the U.S. in Taiwan
  • Reduce trust of Taiwan’s people in their government

B.4 U.S. spreads coronavirus through Wuhan World Military Games

Yes

Yes

Insufficient data

Yes

  • Deny that China is source of COVID-19
  • Establish that the U.S. is source of COVID-19
  • Shift responsibility for starting a global pandemic from China to the U.S.
  • Stoke Chinese nationalism against “foreign virus”

B.5 American influenza is COVID-19

Yes

Yes

Insufficient data

Yes

  • Establish that the U.S. is source of COVID-19
  • Transform China from source to victim of pandemic
  • Shift responsibility for starting a global pandemic from China to the U.S.

B.6 Liberate America

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

  • Create image of social unrest in the U.S. and violation of human rights by the U.S. government
  • Paint democracy movement in Hongkong as violent riot

B.7 Central Election Commission’s vote tampering

Yes

Yes

Insufficient data

No

  • Reduce Taiwanese people’s trust of the voting authorities and election results
  • Affect Taiwan’s 2020 elections

Narratives, clarifications, fact-checking

Case

No. of important narratives

Important narratives

Relation between narratives

Methods to increase credibility

Clarifications & fact-checking

B.1 Kansai Airport

2

  • B.11 = Chinese embassy sends buses to evacuate passengers, Chinese get on buses first
  • B.12 = Taiwanese can get on buses too if self-identify as Chinese

B.11 should precede B.12

  • Attach “on-site” videos to social media posts and news media reports
  • Emphasize “personal experience” in PTT posts
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #18

B.2 Chen Chu is corrupt

2

  • B.21 = Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu is corrupt
  • B.22 = Feeling unbearable, an MJIB official leaked that Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu is corrupt

B.21 should precede B.22

  • Create conspiracy theories with fragmented information
  • Add “feeling unbearable, an MJIB official leaked...” to imply that even public servants do not trust the government
  • 2019/11/21 MJIB press release

B.3 American influenza is deadlier than COVID-19

2

  • B.31 = American influenza, causing 6,600 deaths, is deadlier than COVID-19
  • B.32 = American influenza is deadlier than COVID-19 and ignored by news media

No obvious relations

  • Use U.S. CDC official statistics with death toll ranging from 1,000 to 80,000

“American influenza caused 80,000 death” is false information

B.4 U.S. spreads coronavirus through Wuhan World Military Games

3

  • B.41 = U.S. brought coronavirus to China through Wuhan Military World Games
  • B.42 = Coronavirus is a U.S.-made bio weapon
  • B.43 = Coronavirus was leaked from a U.S. lab

From January 2020 3 narratives appeared independently, then converged into a more complete theory in which B.41 is strengthened by B.42 & B.43

  • Create conspiracy theories with fragmented information
  • Participation from Chinese state media
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #315
  • 2020/3/9 The News Lens fact-checking report

B.5 American influenza is COVID-19

4

  • B.51 = Asahi Shimbun: COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. long before Wuhan?
  • B.52 = Pan Hwai-Tzong: U.S. is source of coronavirus?
  • B.53 = Zhao Li-Jian: U.S. CDC chief admits flu patients may have had COVID-19
  • B.54 = Belleville Mayor contracted COVID-19 in November 2019

B.51 to B.54 appeared in order while Zhao Li-Jian combines narratives regarding Military World Games and American influenza

  • Quote foreign news media reports and U.S. House video
  • Participation from Chinese Foreign Ministry and state media
  • Quote and appropriate “personal experience” from a mayor in the U.S.
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #345
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #358
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #378

B.6 Liberate America

1

  • B.61 = Liberate America

None

  • Attach riot photos and videos to social media posts

None

B.7 Central Election Commission’s vote tampering

3

  • B.71 = CEC stuffed votes with blank ballots
  • B.72 = CEC used waxed ballots to cause invalid votes
  • B.73 = CEC altered vote count with computer systems

B.71 B.72 appeared before Taiwan’s 2020 elections while B.73 appeared afterwards

  • Quote unverifiable “personal experience” and authoritative narratives
  • 2019/12/19 CEC press release
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #232
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #245
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #266
  • Taiwan Fact-check Center report #272

In R.1 IORG has studied the dissemination of manipulated information “from Weibo to Facebook” and found 2 Taiwan local collaborators “Sisy’s World News” (文茜的世界周報) and “Ting-Ting Sees the World” (婷婷看世界) as the 2 Facebook pages of posts with top IX scores. The following compares the behavior of these 2 local collaborators within the time frame of R.1 (2020/8/1 to 2020/11/4).

“Sisy” and “Ting-Ting”

Local collaborator

Posts about America from Weibo

Post average IX score

Post features

Source manipulation

Content manipulation

Sisy’s World News

12

4687.6117

  • All posts are digest of “foreign news media reports” where each post consists of single-paragraph summaries of reports from various sources
  • Sources cited are all news media outside China
  • All posts use Traditional Han characters
  • Some phrases are converted to Taiwanese versions
  • Images attached to 11 (of 12) posts contain Weibo watermark

Masquerading content origin

None

Ting-Ting Sees the World

40

1676.0650

  • All posts should be single-source
  • Some posts contains source links to Weibo
  • Do not cite sources outside of China such as Forbes, ABC
  • Some posts use Simplified Han characters
  • Phrases are not converted to Taiwanese versions
  • Images attached to some posts contain Weibo watermark
  • Videos attached to some posts are from Chinese state media

Omitting content origin

Disseminating false information