Reuters noted that in December last year, the Chinese military conducted large-scale drills around Taiwan while simultaneously carrying out psychological operations via smartphone screens, using social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube to wage an information war using local Taiwanese voices.
According to Reuters, a 51-second video was posted on TikTok by a news outlet affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. The video featured Kuomintang (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wen accusing Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of provoking Chinese aggression.
In the video, Cheng reportedly said last December that President Lai, due to his pursuit of Taiwanese independence, was “going to walk this dead-end road to the very end, dragging along Taiwan’s 23 million people.” The clip quickly spread to popular Taiwanese social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.
Citing five Taiwanese security officials and data provided to Reuters by the Information Operations Research Group (IORG), Taiwanese internal criticism of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is increasingly being amplified by Chinese state media, including voices linked to the KMT and pro-KMT influencers.
Based on the data and sources, Chinese official media reuse public statements from KMT and other opposition figures criticizing Taiwan’s government, and distribute anti-DPP content widely through state media and social platforms.
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These videos are then reshared and often repackaged for Taiwanese platforms including Facebook, TikTok, Douyin’s overseas version (TikTok), and YouTube, sometimes edited or presented in ways that obscure Chinese involvement.
While China has previously used Taiwanese figures in propaganda, Taiwan security officials say this approach has significantly intensified. Familiar voices and accents, they note, make the messaging appear more credible.
These officials emphasize that China’s objective is to discredit Taiwan’s government.
Against the backdrop of the Democratic Progressive Party seeking an additional $40 billion in defense spending, IORG and three Taiwanese security officials believe these efforts aim to convince the public that China’s military power is overwhelming and that further Taiwanese spending on U.S. weapons is futile.
Regarding Beijing’s information warfare efforts, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the Ministry of National Defense did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense told Reuters it is strengthening media literacy and psychological resilience within the military to counter China’s intensified “cognitive warfare.”
Taiwan’s Presidential Office stated that cross-strait peace must be “built on strength, not on yielding to authoritarian pressure.”
Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube did not respond to questions about Chinese information warfare, and Douyin also did not reply to Reuters’ requests.
As China continues preparing for possible military action against Taiwan, information warfare is part of Beijing’s strategy to weaken Taiwan without using force.
The report notes that the KMT provides a useful entry point for China. The opposition party has sought to strengthen ties with Beijing to avoid what it describes as a crisis exacerbated by DPP provocations.
Earlier this month, Cheng Li-wen met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Xi told her that the KMT and the Communist Party “should consolidate political mutual trust, maintain positive engagement, unite compatriots across the Strait, and work together toward national reunification.”
The KMT responded in a statement that Cheng’s visit fulfilled campaign promises and continued a long tradition of high-level KMT–CCP exchanges, adding that despite differences, both sides believe disputes should be resolved through dialogue.
Social media battlefield
Data provided to Reuters by IORG shows how the operation works. The civic group—composed of social scientists and data analysts and unaffiliated with any political party—receives some funding from Western governments and Taiwanese academic institutions.
In the last quarter of last year, 1,076 CCP-affiliated media accounts on Douyin posted around 560,000 videos, of which about 18,000 related to Taiwan.
Using facial recognition technology, IORG identified 57 Taiwanese individuals appearing in 2,730 videos. The findings were verified by researchers and reviewed by Reuters.
Compared with the same period a year earlier, the number of videos featuring Taiwanese figures more than doubled between October and November last year, while total monthly viewing time increased significantly.
Notably, 13 of the top 25 most featured Taiwanese figures in Chinese videos are KMT-linked individuals, including current lawmakers, party delegates, and former officials from the KMT government era. Two others are from smaller pro-unification parties, and ten are influencers known for criticizing the ruling DPP.
Cheng Li-wen is the most prominent Taiwanese figure in Chinese-produced videos. She appears in 460 videos across 68 Douyin accounts, generating over 5 million interactions, including likes, comments, and shares.
Reuters reports that these videos amplify her calls for cross-strait peace, her criticism of President Lai as a “pawn of external forces,” and her claims that the DPP’s pro-independence stance is destructive. Such content is first distributed on Chinese state media and platforms, then repackaged and reposted to popular Taiwanese platforms.
The KMT said in a statement that Cheng’s remarks reflect mainstream Taiwanese aspirations for peace, adding that even if Chinese state media increasingly include Taiwanese voices, this is based on Taiwan’s own diverse public opinion.
Several influencers are also widely cited by Chinese media, including popular fitness influencer “Guan Chang” Chen Chih-han, and five retired senior military officers known for criticizing the DPP and Taiwan’s defense policy.
Chen Chih-han livestreamed on YouTube on the eve of China’s National Day last year, congratulating the “motherland” and saying people on both sides of the Strait are one family. Chinese state media, including China News Service, later shared clips.
Chen did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
In another video published by China News Service, retired Army Colonel Lai Yueh-chien claimed that Chinese drones entered Taiwan undetected during last December’s military drills, and suggested China could carry out decapitation strikes on pro-independence leaders while they sleep. The video quickly appeared on Facebook and YouTube.
IORG said claims of Chinese drones approaching Taiwan first appeared in videos posted by PLA-affiliated social media accounts. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense denied these claims.
China News Service did not respond to Reuters, and Lai declined to comment on his appearance in Chinese state media.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council told Reuters it hopes retired officers will be mindful of public perception, avoid echoing Beijing’s narratives, and remember their oath to Taiwan.
Psychological objectives
According to a January survey by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center, support for maintaining the status quo indefinitely has risen by 8 percentage points since 2020 to 33.5 percent, while support for “status quo moving toward independence” has declined to 21.9 percent. Support for unification (immediate or gradual) remains stable at around 7 percent.
Reuters notes it is unclear whether intensified Chinese information warfare is having a measurable impact. The survey suggests Taiwanese views on independence vs. unification have remained largely stable since 2024, roughly matching the period of increased information operations observed by IORG.
However, Bonnie Glaser, director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund, said the flood of messaging “creates an environment that makes it easier for China to win support, because its strategy is essentially to lower morale, instill psychological despair, and convince people that autonomy has no future and joining China is the best option.”
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau reported in January that over 45,000 fake social media accounts and 2.3 million pieces of misinformation related to cross-strait issues were detected last year. It said Beijing’s information warfare aims to deepen internal divisions in Taiwan, weaken public resistance, and increase support for China.
A Taiwanese security official said: “They want you to doubt the military, doubt Taiwan, and feel that if war breaks out, no one will come to help you.”
Taiwan’s government even distributed a civil defense handbook last year warning households that any claims of Taiwan’s surrender should be treated as misinformation during heightened cross-strait tensions, underscoring that information warfare is already intensifying even without active combat.
