Taiwan’s president takes on alleged Chinese infiltration

Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, broke with tradition on March 13th when he declared China to be a “foreign hostile force" that had violated Taiwan’s anti-infiltration law. China had been recruiting members of Taiwan’s gangs, media, political parties, armed forces and police to “divide, destroy and subvert us from within," he said. To deal with this threat Mr Lai proposed a series of measures including stricter inspection of would-be immigrants from China, restrictions on cross-strait exchanges and the revival of military trials to deal with soldiers and officers suspected of colluding with the enemy.

Though his speech was tough, Mr Lai’s terminology did at least contain a linguistic compromise in Chinese. Jingwai, the term translated as “foreign", can be translated as “outside the borders", an ambiguity in Chinese to avoid explicitly calling China a foreign country (waiguo). China also uses jingwai to refer to Taiwan. After his speech, Mr Lai said Taiwan’s anti-infiltration law defines “jingwai hostile forces" as any state, political entity or group that is at war, engaged in a military standoff or advocating non-peaceful ways to endanger the sovereignty of Taiwan. China clearly fits into this category, he said.

Linguistic issues aside, Taiwan has good reason to worry. As Mr Lai pointed out in his speech, 64 people were charged with spying for China last year, triple the number in 2021. Two-thirds of them were current or retired military personnel. Taiwan’s government is also investigating revelations that China is issuing ID cards with Chinese citizenship to Taiwanese applicants. China has also been paying Taiwanese influencers and celebrities to promote China and subsidising cross-strait trips to win over Taiwanese citizens. On March 15th Taiwan announced it was revoking the visa of a Chinese influencer. She had posted videos supporting the idea of China taking the island by force.

Mr Lai’s proposed crackdown is controversial. Military trials are a relic of Taiwan’s authoritarian past. They were shut down in 2013 after the death of Hung Chung-chiu, a soldier who was being punished for having brought a phone with a camera and mp3 flash drive into an army camp. Mr Hung died of heatstroke in solitary confinement, sparking mass protests. Wellington Koo, the defence minister, says that the new system will be fairer and follow due process. But activists and lawyers are questioning why Taiwan should restore this system when it is not at war.

It is unlikely that Mr Lai will be able to implement all his proposed measures. Most would require legal changes that must be approved by parliament. The opposition parties, which hold a majority there, are calling Mr Lai a “troublemaker" who is endangering Taiwan. “This is the first time in over 30 years that a sitting leader of the Republic of China has officially classified the other side of the strait as a quasi-wartime adversary," said Eric Chu, who chairs the opposition Kuomintang party, adding that Mr Lai’s restrictions on cross-strait exchange are a violation of free speech, thought and movement and a “major setback for democracy".

Mr Lai gave his speech on the eve of the 20th anniversary of China’s anti-secession law, which authorises the use of military force to prevent Taiwan’s independence. Mr Lai was therefore being particularly audacious by defining China as a foreign hostile force that day. China has taken note. On March 17th it launched larger-than-usual patrols around Taiwan, saying they were punishment for Mr Lai’s “separatism" and for “collusion" with America. Perhaps Mr Lai believes his rhetoric will rally Taiwanese society against Chinese pressure. In his speech he called for all citizens to come together in rejecting Chinese infiltration. “Only through solidarity can we resist being divided," he said.