Taiwan’s government on Sunday unveiled a new website aimed at encouraging Chinese citizens to submit intelligence information, saying it provides a secure platform for those it believes are increasingly dissatisfied with China’s political system and seeking change.
Taiwan and China have a long history of intelligence-gathering against one another. Taipei, in particular, has reported a growing number of alleged Chinese espionage cases in recent years as tensions between the two sides continue to rise.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said on its website that in recent years, China’s economy has faced growing difficulties, while political control has remained “tight”.
“Coupled with a growing range of social and livelihood-related problems, these conditions have fuelled public discontent,” said a statement in Chinese and English. “As a result, an increasing number of individuals have approached relevant agencies in Taiwan, wishing to provide various types of information.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Targeting Chinese Audience
The website opens to a one-minute promotional video that the bureau said was AI-generated, showing a Chinese civil servant witnessing colleagues being investigated and removed from their posts.
“Ah, yet another person has been taken away,” the unnamed civil servant says in a northern Chinese accent, with subtitles in the simplified characters used in China.
“The old comrades are inexplicably vanishing one by one,” the narrator says.
The video ends with the official buying a mobile phone and typing on it, saying: “Now is the time to change”.
Cross-Strait Intelligence Battle Intensifies
The website is blocked in China, though many Chinese use VPNs to access other blocked sites like Western social media and search engines.
The bureau called on Chinese nationals at home or abroad to “actively provide information and make changes with courage”.
It said the new tactic was following the lead of agencies in such countries as the U.S., Britain and Israel.
The channel enables Chinese nationals to provide intelligence-related information to “expand the bureau’s diverse intelligence sources”, it said.
China has tried similar tactics itself. In 2024, China announced an email address where people could report tipoffs about crimes committed by Taiwan “separatists”.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
(With inputs from Reuters)
