Universities warned over Chinese Communist Party influence

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council told legislators in a plenary session on 17 October that it had asked temples and universities to be on the alert for attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in next year’s presidential and legislative elections, write Chen Cheng-yu and Shelley Shan for the Taipei Times.

With only 88 days left until the elections, legislators asked Premier Chen Chien-jen and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had intensified campaigns to interfere in the elections. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung said that some borough wardens and heads of temples in Taiwan were invited to visit China and encouraged to bring people with them. He said that he had received information that some university professors were organising low-priced tours to China for students.

Lai urged the government to respond quickly to disinformation disseminated by the CCP, adding that it should consider responding to false information with videos instead of placards. “We, as a democratic and free society, cannot afford to let the CCP regime interfere in our elections using disinformation. A false statement can become the truth when it is said multiple times, as people are utterly confused,” he said.
Full report on the Taipei Times site