Over the past year and a half, China has escalated its pressure on Taiwan, particularly following a visit to the island nation by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Now, Chinese propagandists posing as marketing professionals are attempting to brainwash Taiwanese citizens in their pursuit of complete unification.
A Taiwanese woman named Yang Hsin-tzu recently became the target of relentless harassment by the Chinese IT cell after purchasing a book titled “If China Attacks,” which takes an anti-Communist Party of China (CPC) stance.
Yang bought the book from Eslite Bookstore in February, but on a Saturday in May, she received a mysterious phone call that caught her attention. Yang, who works as a deputy executive secretary for the non-profit organization “Here I Stand Project,” took to Facebook to share her experience.
Yang mentioned that she missed two “strange” calls with the country code +28. However, when the phone rang for the third time, she answered and heard a soft female voice on the other end of the line.
According to Yang’s Facebook post, the woman claimed to be a representative from Eslite Bookstore conducting a survey related to Yang’s purchase of the book. Yang questioned the caller about the survey’s purpose, and the Chinese propagandist responded by saying, “The book you bought contains very sensitive content…This book’s content is inappropriate, so I wish to hear your opinion.”
After talking for a few minutes, Yang realized that the caller’s accent was not Taiwanese, indicating that she was not a native of Taiwan.
Yang expressed her nervousness and excitement, as she did not want to miss the opportunity to directly confront Chinese communists. She requested the caller to call back once she had retrieved the book.
When Yang prepared to record the call during the follow-up conversation, she was surprised to find a man on the line instead of the woman. The man claimed to be from Eslite Bookstore’s marketing department.
In contrast to the woman caller, the man did not pretend and immediately began criticizing Taiwan. He attempted to convince Yang that although she was not born in China, she was still a native. He repeatedly asserted that China possessed a strong military and Taiwan would not emerge victorious.
The man also declared that the unification of Taiwan was inevitable, suggesting that voting for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would lead to forced unification, while voting for the Kuomintang (KMT) would result in peaceful unification under the “one country, two systems” framework.
China’s psychological warfare tactics are well-known, and it is no secret that scammers from China target online shoppers in Taiwan. Their goal is not financial fraud but rather psychological warfare, aiming to sow confusion regarding the Taiwanese Army and government.
Yang noted that this time the scammers were not attempting to scam her for money but rather engaging in cognitive warfare, trying to gauge public opinion in Taiwan and gather insights on Taiwanese thoughts about the book.
In response to the incident, Taiwan’s Administration for Digital Industries has summoned representatives from Eslite Bookstore to address the security loopholes in their cyber security system, which allowed non-state actors to access customer data.
China’s increase in scam calls coincides with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent visit to the US and her meetings with top leaders there.
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