Taiwan President Lai Ching-Te said on Thursday that China deepened campaigns of influence and infiltration against the democratic island, promising measures to deal with Beijing’s efforts to “absorb” the territory.
Taipei accused the Chinese government of intensifying military exercises, commercial sanctions, and influence campaigns against the island in recent years to force her to accept the claims of Chinese sovereignty.
Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with senior security officials, Lai said Beijing used Taiwanese democracy to “absorb” several members of society, including organized crime groups, media personalities and current and former military and police officers.
“They (China) are conducting activities such as division, destruction and subversion from within us,” the president told a press conference.
The Taiwan Affairs Office of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When asked about Lai’s comments at a regular press conference, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said no matter what he said, “this will not change the fact that Taiwan is part of China nor can change the inevitable event of reunification with the homeland.”
Quoting government data, President Taiwanese reported that 64 people were accused of Chinese espionage last year, three times more than in 2021. According to him, most of them were current or old military officers.
“Many are concerned that our country, freedom, democracy and prosperity won with a lot of effort will be lost gradually due to these campaigns of influence and manipulation,” he said.
In making these efforts, Lai pointed out that China constituted what Taiwan’s anti-infiltration law has defined as “foreign hostile forces.”
This content was originally published in Taiwan alerts on “Chinese infiltration” and promises to contracted on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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