Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

US seeks to avert quick, cheap invasion

Taipei Times

The US aims to “ensure that it is not easy or cost-free” for China to use military aggression against Taiwan, a senior US defense official told a seminar in Washington on Thursday.

China is unlikely to attempt a rash invasion of Taiwan in 2027 — a goal assumed by some analysts — but the US would continue to strengthen its regional deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure that China is aware that such an attempt would be very costly, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said.

Draft to bar convicts from elected office

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) yesterday proposed a draft amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that would bar people who have been convicted of security breaches from running in national or local elections.

People convicted of offenses relating to organized crime, money laundering, firearms or drugs would be barred from election to civil servant positions if the amendments pass, Lo said on Monday, when the amendments were being drafted.

Fighting a fair or dirty campaign

Taipei Times Editorials

Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) has been nominated as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate for a legislative by-election in Taipei. The seat belonged to Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who was voted Taipei mayor last month. Her sole rival for the position is the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Enoch Wu (吳怡農).

Wang said she already knows how she would attack Wu. Wu said he would run a clean campaign, focusing only on the issues, and steering clear of gossip and smearing his opponent.

Fighting disinformation with votes

Taipei Times Editorials

Voters in the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 26 did not regard the China issue as the most important concern when casting their ballots, despite Beijing’s best efforts. The Information Operations Research Group uncovered a lot of disinformation spread by China this year in its attempts to sway voters with its rhetoric on “war” and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disinformation regarding war might be more effective in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. In a report released on Saturday based on a review of more than 8 million Facebook posts, 6,000 news articles from Taiwan, 2,000 official releases from China regarding Taiwan affairs, 800,000 posts on Chinese social media and 50,000 TikTok videos this year found that “war” and “pandemic” were the two top issues involved when information was manipulated.

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