China's 'repression' a tactic to weaken and absorb Taiwan: Academic

Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) Cross-border repression is a tactic that aims to create division within societies, weakening them for the goal of their ultimate absorption, a political scientist said Sunday at a forum on China's "long-arm jurisdiction" tactics.

"China has always wanted to take Taiwan by force," National Taiwan University emeritus professor Ming Chu-cheng (明居正) said, citing China's unsuccessful attempts to capture Taiwan's outlying Kinmen Islands in two battles in 1949 and from 1958 to 1979.

"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) faces difficulties unifying Taiwan by force, so it turns to Taiwan's society, hoping to exploit the many confrontations within Taiwan to defeat us from within," Ming said, adding that competition between political parties, social injustices and the wealth gap are all susceptible to exploitation.

This, he argued, would weaken Taiwan's society, making it easier to conquer by force.

According to Ming, cross-border repression is carried out alongside cognitive warfare, including online propaganda that portrays Taiwan as a "radical provocateur" pushing an independence agenda and compares President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to Adolf Hitler.

Opinion leaders, organizations and academics who support Taiwan independence are all targets of this repression, he said.

Ming also said China collaborates with politicians, influencers, entertainers, temple administrators and gangsters in Taiwan to spread propaganda praising China.

To counter such suppression, he said the Taiwanese government should block or restrict Chinese capital from funding media outlets, influencers, temples and gangsters.

In addition, Taiwan should reclaim its voice by fostering "positive narratives" in cross-strait developments, he argued.

Ming noted that many years ago the Taiwanese government compiled chronicles on cross-strait relations.

"Now, when I go online to look for cross-strait relations chronicles, almost all of them are written by China. The ones written by Taiwan are few and far between," he said.

As more members of the international community voice opposition to China's attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by non-peaceful means and become aware of Chinese infiltration in their own societies, Taiwan should strengthen international cooperation to keep the CCP in check, he said.