Taiwan: Chinese ‘Cyber Warriors’ Hurting Coronavirus Recovery Effort

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister accused China this weekend of attempting to disrupt his country’s fight against the coronavirus by launching a cyber “war” campaign of fake news.

Posting on Foreign Ministry’s Twitter page, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said he had been left “speechless” by China’s actions.

“[Chinese] officials say they care about our health as if we’re blood relatives,” he wrote. “But while Taiwan is dealing with [the coronavirus] originating from Wuhan, their cyber warriors are waging war to disrupt our efforts. So this is epidemic fighting with Chinese characteristics.” 

#PRC officials say they care about our health as if we're blood relatives. But while #Taiwan is dealing with #COVID19 originating from #Wuhan, their cyber warriors are waging war to disrupt our efforts. So this is epidemic fighting with Chinese characteristics. I'm speechless. JW pic.twitter.com/mOsZMNpEOe

— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) February 29, 2020

Last week, the Taiwanese government reported a rise in false reports and information online about the virus, blaming China’s “internet army” for waging a fake news campaign. Beijing has not responded to the allegations.

The fake reports, quickly dismissed by Taiwan as a Chinese-led disinformation campaign, include claims that the island’s health authorities are covering up the real number of cases and that members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have been given preferential access to face masks. Taiwan has pledged to punish people spreading the rumors. 

In reality, the Sunday Times reported that it was China that has covered up streams of information regarding the virus, including the fact that their scientists knew about the virus as early as early December but received a gag order from Beijing. There is also growing evidence that China continues to lie about the number of cases, the exact crime that they accused Taiwan of doing. 

The coronavirus epidemic has further strained relations between the two countries. Taiwan recently described Chinese authorities as “vile” after they prevented Taiwan from accessing real-time data regarding the virus and blocked its participation at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Taiwan has long accused China of waging fake news campaigns to interfere with its internal affairs as dictator Xi Jinping aggressively steps up attempts to annex Taiwan, a sovereign state that has never been part of the People’s Republic of China.

The most recent case of interference occurred during the country’s recent presidential elections, where teams of Chinese agents attempted to spread misinformation to undermine pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen’s ultimately successful re-election campaign in favor of her opposition candidate more closely aligned with Beijing.