OTTAWA—The West can learn a lot from observing how China is attempting to undermine democracy and infiltrate the society in Taiwan, because the strategy the regime is honing on the self-ruled island today, it will implement in other countries tomorrow, says Chen Tan-sun, a former Taiwanese foreign minister.
“China is trying to push out its influence on Western countries,” Chen, now chair of the Taiwan-based think tank Prospect Foundation, said at a panel discussion in Ottawa on Oct. 28. Titled “Blunting China’s Sharp Power: How democracies can defend against Chinese influence operations,” the discussion was organized jointly by Chen’s organization and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).