Taiwan Should Strengthen Countermeasures Against China’s Political Warfare, Report Says

‘No other democracy faces the same scale of foreign threat to its integrity and independence as Taiwan,’ the report warns.

Guards raise Taiwan's national flag on the Democracy Boulevard at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Tiawan, on Nov. 29, 2024. I-Hwa Cheng AFP via Getty Images

Taiwan needs to beef up its security procedures and regulations to counter the Chinese communist regime’s covert operations intended to undermine the island’s democratic systems, according to a new report.

“No other democracy faces the same scale of foreign threat to its integrity and independence as Taiwan,” two researchers from The Jamestown Foundation wrote in a report published by the Global Taiwan Institute on March 20.

“The malign intentions and influence operations directed by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and the threat it poses and harm it causes to Taiwan’s democratic society, is real.”

The researchers said some of Taiwan’s existing regulations are “relatively strong,” such as those related to foreign campaign donations, but “other areas are uneven.”

“For example, sentences for espionage are unpredictable: with the dismantling of the military penal system, convicted military officers no longer have their visits monitored to ensure they do not continue to pose a counterintelligence threat,” the report reads.

“Legislators, elected officials, and lower level military personnel, current or former, are not monitored for their interactions with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and regulations are not enforced.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers Taiwan a part of its territory and has set the goal of seizing the island, either through peaceful means or by military actions. Taiwan, a de facto independent nation with its own democratically elected government, has relied on the United States for weapons for its self-defense.

The report divides the CCP’s covert operations into three areas: intelligence operations, cyberspace operations, and “united front work” influence operations.

The researchers documented several recent espionage cases involving current and former Taiwanese military officials. The report also quoted 2024 remarks by Tsai Ming-yen, director-general of the Taiwanese National Security Bureau, about how his agency had dealt with significantly more infiltration cases at present than in the past years.

As part of the CCP’s intelligence operations, an unnamed Taiwanese national official said that about 5,000 Taiwanese were working for Beijing in 2017, according to the report.

The Chinese regime uses the “full spectrum of malign activity in cyberspace” against Taiwan, with hackers aiming to collect political, diplomatic, military, economic, and social information, according to the report.

Chinese hackers have also targeted Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. The authors explained that these thefts were meant to help China-based semiconductor companies challenge the market dominance of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing companies.

“The CCP’s united front work in Taiwan is extensive, targeting all political parties, local communities, youth, businesses, and civil society,” the authors wrote.

Youth exchange through summer camps, cultural activities, and education programs are among the venues where Beijing carries out its united front operations, according to the report.

In China, the central CCP agency spearheading the united front work is called the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The department runs a network of organizations to co-opt civic groups, gather intelligence, shape other countries’ political environments, and facilitate illegal technology transfer.

The authors offered several recommendations to the Taiwanese government, including implementing harsher penalties for espionage.

“Additional sentencing enhancements could be legislated for offenses that have wider political consequences or threaten the wider integrity of the Taiwanese government,” they wrote.

Taiwan could also establish a legal structure similar to that in the United States, requiring individuals acting on behalf of a foreign principal to register and criminalizing unregistered agents of foreign powers.

The report also suggests that Taiwan create a national security clearance system.

“A security clearance system with rigorous post-employment vetting allows government employees to be held to a higher standard of behavior, including with criminal consequences in egregious cases of leaks,” the authors wrote.

The Taiwanese government should also implement robust regulations to enhance its oversight of how current and former elected officials engage with China, according to the report.

Taiwanese officials attending meetings in China should be prohibited from holding closed-door discussions, it notes. Instead, all meetings should ensure the presence of diplomatic representatives and journalists.