Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Tuesday called on democracies to cooperate on countering China’s cognitive warfare efforts.

Speaking at a policy forum held by Taipei-based think tank Doublethink Lab and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Wu said that China was “attempting to create social division and mistrust to undermine [Taiwan’s] democratic system.”

Shiori Kanno, a former parliamentary member of the Japanese Diet, also spoke at the event, saying that the issue of Taiwan’s security had been receiving greater attention in Japan and argued that a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would impact Japan’s economy.

The generation born or raised after the lifting of martial law in 1987 was the first to experience democratization and enjoy the initial fruits of Taiwan’s freedom. Many of the generation following those who witnessed martial law lifted are now high-school and college students. The political background in which they grew up was the second eight-year governance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Taiwan’s democracy has issues that need to be addressed in each generation, but the social environment of this latest voting-age generation is freer and more open. If they take universal values such as democracy, freedom and human rights for granted, then they are testing Taiwan’s democratic resilience and putting these staples at risk.