Information manipulation

TAIPEI ­– The food here is as delicious as ever, whether in five-star hotels or in the streets. And there’s little indication of heightened alarm over China’s saber-rattling and threats to retake Taiwan, by force if necessary.

Yet the Taiwanese are concerned about evolving methods of undermining their democratic way of life. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, addressing the opening last Tuesday of the annual World News Media Congress 2023 and World Editors Forum, said there are “authoritarian forces” trying to undermine Taiwanese democracy and influence its media environment.

A congress official noted that such influence can be exerted through pressure, for example, from Chinese companies advertising in Taiwanese media organizations.

Tsai told the media congress that the “authoritarian information manipulation” and disinformation aim “to polarize our society, pit our citizens versus each other, erode trust in democratic institutions” and promote the narrative that democracy is inefficient and less democracy is needed.

Last year the Philippines faced some of the same problems, but the targets were political rivals rather than the country itself.

How does Taiwan counter this information manipulation? Tsai says their government helps people identify truth, through transparency, regular media briefings and involvement of civil society.

“Public education is very important,” she said, along with “timely, adequate and accurate information” so individuals can make “personal informed decisions.”

Tsai stressed the importance of a free press in countering disinformation. She’s not just paying lip service to press freedom and the battle against fake news. In 2019, Taiwan scored full marks in the annual assessment of free and independent media worldwide, drawn up by the Washington-based non-profit Freedom House.

In the latest assessment, Tsai said Taiwan ranked 94th, while in the World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders, Taiwan ranked 36th out of 189.

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This is the first time in about a decade that the media congress is returning to Asia, and it’s significant that Taiwan was picked as the venue.

The media congress tends to pick venues with press freedom issues, such as Moscow in 2006 and South Africa when the controversial Jacob Zuma was enjoying a popularity that would propel him to the presidency.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin made a show of being tolerant of dissent, looking unfazed when a handful of protesters popped up at the conference hall and unfurled an anti-government streamer. We wondered if the protesters would survive the day. (Zuma was just as cool in fielding critical questions during the congress in Cape Town.)

I started attending this annual media gathering when it was still called the World Newspaper Congress and the organizing group was called the World Association of Newspapers rather than the current World Association of News Publishers, now running stories on multiple platforms.

News platforms have evolved rapidly in recent years, with artificial intelligence currently generating new uncertainty. Journalism, with its focus on fact-checking, accuracy and fairness, is unchanged, but news is competing with a wide range of infotainment for information consumers’ attention.

Taiwan is aware of the role played by mass media and the importance of press freedom. I was glad that Taipei granted my request for a one-on-one interview with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. He was amiable and didn’t hold back throughout our nearly hourlong talk.

Like Tsai, Wu warned of efforts to undermine Taiwan’s democratic way of life, through what he described as “hybrid warfare.”

What constitutes hybrid warfare? “Cyber attacks. Disinformation campaign. Infiltration. Or cognitive warfare. Things that are under the threshold of real gunfighting,” Wu told me. “This is what China has been waging against Taiwan. And other than that there is also economic coercion.”

And what is cognitive warfare?

This, he explained, is Beijing “saying that geopolitics these days is a conflict or dispute or competition between the United States and China, and therefore our countries should stay away from this conflict. Countries should stay neutral. But that is the Chinese cognitive warfare – against Taiwan, against the Philippines – to stay away from the United States.”

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Wu is aware of concerns that the US military installations being set up in Northern Luzon might provoke further aggressive actions by China. He said there are also Taiwanese who say Taipei’s purchase of weapons from the US and allowing visits by US officials would be considered provocative by Beijing.

“To us, the simple thing is that as long as there is a threat coming from China, we need international support, and the US support is there,” Wu said. “What is causing provocation in this region is China’s expansionism.”

Taiwan is hoping for closer ties with the Philippines as the country moves closer to the US under President Marcos.

“The fact that Taiwan is a democracy and the Philippines is also a democracy, we share the same values of freedom, democracy, human rights, rule of law and rules-based international order – this is a very good basis for the two countries to work with each other,” Wu said.

Media congress organizers acknowledged that picking Taiwan as the venue for this year’s gathering is a gesture of support for the self-ruled island. There are over 900 of us from 58 countries participating in the congress, which ends today.

“The most recent geostrategic international environment is that authoritarianism is expanding outward and democracies surrounding authoritarian states have been affected,” Wu said.

Taiwan is hoping for some form of security cooperation “in less sensitive areas” with the Philippines under BBM.

“As long as there’s a desire on the part of the Philippines, Taiwan will be there to work together with the Philippines,” Wu said. “After all, the Philippines is the closest neighbor to us, and we have all intention to maintain very good relations with the Philippines.”