The disinformation profiting from the Golden Gate - Disinformation about Kinmen, the islands situated between Taiwan and China
The disinformation profiting from the Golden Gate - Disinformation about Kinmen, the islands situated between Taiwan and China
Since early this year, the amount of disinformation pieces regarding Kinmen, a group of islands located just ten kilometers off China's southern coast but ruled by Taiwan, has been rising. From late August to September, another wave of disinformation about Kinmen emerged. This increase is the result of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's visit to the islands on August 23 to mark the anniversary of a historic fight against Chinese forces, as well as the Chinese government's recent assurances to local Kinmen officials that Chinese citizens will be permitted to visit the island. The disinformation pieces demonstrate how Chinese information campaigns have exploited the Kinmen's delicate political position and identities.
The name of Kinmen Islands, commonly known as Queymoy, translates to "Golden Gate" in Chinese. The Chinese name indicates that the islands historically served as an important gate in the sea between China and Taiwan. Geographically, Kinmen is closer to China. However, during the conflict between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party (KMT), which subsequently retreated to Taiwan, the Kinmen Islands were crucial in defending Taiwan.
Because Kinmen is so critical to national security, local residents faced harsher political activity limitations until the 1990s. Even after Taiwan underwent democratic reforms, the Kinmen people have benefited little from Taiwan Island's success, while they have watched significant economic success in the neighboring Chinese province. The gap has attracted Kinmen residents to seek greater economic prospects and resources in China. Since the 2000s, tourism and resource sharing between Kinmen and China have increased. As a result, when more Taiwanese have identified themselves as "Taiwanese," the Kinmen people are still pondering their Taiwanese identity and confronting the Kinmen's relationship with China.
Located between Taiwan and China, Kinmen has also seen multiple conflicts in the past twenty years between Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen as well as law enforcement on the sea. The conflicts have intensified in recent years due to the political tension between Taiwan and China. In February 2024, a Chinese fishing boat illegally entering Taiwanese waters near Kinmen Island was chased by the Taiwanese coast guards and capsized, killing two Chinese fishermen on board. Disinformation was then widely propagated on Chinese social media in the following months, claiming that the Chinese vessels were gathering around Taiwan for vengeance and blaming "the corrupt Taiwanese officials" for the accidents.
A screenshot of a disinformation piece claiming that “Fujian fishermen have besieged Kinmen to claim justice for the assaulted fishermen.”
On the other hand, Kinmen politicians have worked to better their connection with the Chinese government and expand Kinmen's business opportunities. In August, a Kinmen-elected legislator, several Kinmen local politicians, and business owners met with Beijing authorities to secure Beijing's approval to help reinvigorate Kinmen's tourism by allowing Chinese tourists to visit the islands. The legislator has long called for Kinmen to be "a model area for the integration of Taiwan and China [兩岸融合的示範區]." Following the group's visit, the Chinese government announced that Chinese tourists would soon be able to come to Kinmen.
Around the same time as the Taiwanese group's visit to China and Beijing's announcement of opening Chinese tourists to Kinmen, relevant disinformation pieces appeared on Facebook, TikTok, and Douyin. These disinformation messages quoted pro-unification Taiwanese politicians' statements and said Kinmen had announced a "return to China." Some claim that Kinmen has consented to become "the model area of 'One country, two systems,'" a political arrangement China offered for reunification with Taiwan. The rhetoric of "Kinmen as a model" echoed the claim long promoted by pro-unification Taiwanese politicians to make Kinmen an example for China and Taiwan's "integration." The Taiwan FactCheck Center ruled the claims that "Kinmen has returned and become a model area of 'One Country, Two Systems'" inaccurate. The Kinmen government has never made such statements.
In fact, there have been more false narratives about Kinmen becoming a part of China. MyGoPen, a Taiwanese fact-checking organization, noted similar narratives have been spread on social media platforms such as Weibo since 2022. However, this time, some of the disinformation posts were created and promoted by Taiwanese social media creators. These creators claimed that the significant news of Kinmen's return to China had occurred but had been overlooked because the public attention had focused on another scandal involving the former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je. The videos then complained about the ruling party's mistreatment of Kinmen, which forced Kinmen to seek assistance from China. Interestingly, the videos produced by various individuals mostly followed a similar screen plot.
A screenshot of a Douyin video, which claimed that "Kinmen has announced independence [from Taiwan] and to return to mainland China."
In contrast to the narratives in the above disinformation claims that stress the warm interactions between Kinmen and China, the false pieces surrounding President Lai's visit to Kinmen emphasized the consequences of defying the China-Taiwan reunification.
On the memorial ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the "Second Taiwan Strait Crisis" broke in 1958 between Taiwan and China, Lai stated in a speech that Taiwanese people do not want to be ruled by the Communist Party and prefer "democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law." During Lai's visit to Kinmen on August 23, the Chinese military dispatched 38 Chinese military aircraft and several warships to conduct operations around Taiwan. The Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council also issued a harsh statement, accusing Lai of "tying Taiwanese people to the tank of Taiwan independence."
Since August 28, disinformation has been circulating on social media platforms, Chinese content farms, and Taiwanese news media, claiming that Lai was stranded for one day (some disinformation said two days) in Kinmen because of the People's Liberation Army's exercise encircling Kinmen. Many of the disinformation posts identically referred to Lai as "rampant and arrogant [囂張]" and used the Chinese idiom "catching a turtle in a jar [甕中捉鱉]" to describe how the Liberation Army successfully confined Lai in Kinmen. The pieces further asserted that if the Liberation Army continued the exercise, Lai would only be imprisoned in Kinmen.
Screenshots of a social media message and news website article, which identically used the Chinese idiom "catching a turtle in the jar" to falsely claim President Lai was confined in Kinmen for one day because of the Liberation Army's drill surrounding Taiwan.
These claims were apparently untrue. According to the Taiwan President's office and the Kinmen County government, Lai was back in Taipei around 12:30 pm on the same day and later on met with athletes who were going to compete in the Paris Paralympics. Lai's meeting with the athletes was also broadcast by several news media.
What makes this disinformation particularly intriguing is how Taiwanese political commentators propagated this disinformation claim. These Taiwanese political commentators, who often appear on pro-China TV talk shows or make comments on cross-strait politics on their own online platform channels, were among the first to spread the false claim around the same time in late August. It was also interesting to see that they coincidentally told similar stories (although their claims differed in the number of days that Lai was confined). Chinese content farms, social media accounts, and even those operated by Chinese state media started using the Taiwanese commentators' clips or statements as news sources and repeated the key phrases "rampant and arrogant" and "catching a turtle in a jar" in their posts and videos. Nevertheless, although the false message that attempted to demonstrate how the Liberation Army gave lessons to the Taiwanese president has been shared widely in China, it has garnered very little attention from Taiwanese online users.
The above two disinformation claims resonated with the main theme of Chinese propaganda: on the one hand, it denounced the idea of Taiwan's independence and demonized those who defied China; on the other hand, the propaganda was eager to show China's generosity and its congenial relationship with those who are willing to "return to the Motherland."
For example, the underlying purpose of the disinformation ridiculing Lai for being surrounded by the Chinese Liberation Army is to warn those who oppose China, yet the lie about Kinmen wanting to return to China attempts to show how China could be a resort for those who feel ignored or mistreated by the Taiwanese government. However, the propaganda may be more effective for Chinese citizens and those who support reunification with China. The messages' limited distribution in Taiwan indicates that they are ineffective for the majority of Taiwanese people.
However, it is still worth noting that the two cases leverage Taiwanese content producers and political commentators to disseminate false claims and narratives. Although this is not the first time Chinese propaganda has used Taiwanese amplifiers to conduct information influence campaigns, the approach has gained traction and is worth monitoring.
Wei-Ping Li is a research fellow at the Taiwan FactCheck Center. Yun-Kai Hsu (fact-checker at the Taiwan FactCheck Center) contributed to this analysis.
