In a sharp move amid rising cross-strait tensions, police in China on Saturday announced rewards of $1,400 for information on 18 individuals identified as Taiwanese military psychological operations officers, accusing them of spreading “separatist” propaganda — just a day after Taiwan vowed to strengthen its defences.
China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has increased its military and political pressure against the island.
‘Plotted To Incite Separatist Activities’
The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Xiamen, which sits opposite Taiwan on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, said the 18 were core members of Taiwan military’s “psychological warfare unit”, and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers.
The unit handles tasks such as disinformation, intelligence gathering, psychological warfare and the broadcast of propaganda, the security bureau said in a statement.
“For a long time they plotted to incite separatist activities,” the bureau said, adding there would be rewards of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,401.74) for tips leading to their arrest.
They launched websites for smear campaigns, created seditious games to incite secession, produced fake video content to mislead people, operated illegal radios for “infiltration”, and manipulated public opinion with resources from “external forces”, the state Xinhua news agency said in a separate report.
Notice Largely Symbolic
Taiwan’s defence ministry had no immediate comment. The wanted notice is largely symbolic given that Taiwanese intelligence officers do not openly visit the country and China’s legal system has no jurisdiction on the island.
On Friday, President Lai Ching-te pledged greater efforts to boost Taiwan’s defences, calling on China to renounce the use of force to seize the island. China reacted with anger, calling Lai a troublemaker and a “war-maker”.
In June of this year, China issued a similar bounty for the arrest of 20 people Beijing said were Taiwanese military hackers. Taiwan dismissed that threat, saying it would not be intimidated.
(With inputs from Reuters)
