China's information war turns Taiwan’s own voices against it

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A giant screen broadcasts news showing Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands with Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Kuomintang, Taiwan's largest opposition party, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 10
By James Pomfret and Yimou Lee
REUTERS
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TAIPEI –
As Chinese warships and fighter jets staged massive drills around Taiwan in December, a parallel action was unfolding on smartphone screens.On Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, a news outlet run by the Chinese Communist Party posted a 51-second video of Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun accusing Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of inviting Chinese aggression.

Lai, Cheng said, was "dragging all 23 million of us” in Taiwan into a "dead end, a road to death” by pursuing independence
The clip quickly surfaced on Facebook, YouTube and other platforms popular in Taiwan.

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