Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) has accused the Chinese Communist Party of using six tactics to influence Taiwan's upcoming nine-in-one local elections, including allegedly using discounted airfares to encourage Taiwanese citizens living in China to return home and vote, ANI reported, citing The Taipei Times.

Source: ANI via Taipei Times

NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen disclosed the alleged strategies at a briefing before the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. He said the bureau would gather evidence of suspected election-related activities and refer cases to judicial authorities for investigation before polling day, wherever possible, ANI reported.

According to Tsai, the six suspected tactics are: providing illicit financial assistance to selected candidates or political organisations; offering subsidised trips to China to targeted individuals; arranging discounted flights to Taiwan for residents in China to return and vote; spreading disinformation; running illegal underground betting operations; and conducting cyberattacks aimed at obtaining sensitive election-related information.

2.5 million disinformation items, 2.58 million daily cyber attempts

Tsai said discounted airline tickets could become available about three weeks before the elections. Separately, the NSB reported an average of about 2.58 million attempted cyber intrusions a day targeting Taiwan's Government Service Network as of September, with more than 100 million attempts detected in July alone, ANI reported, citing a report submitted to the legislature.

The six-tactics warning follows a separate NSB report this week that China spread more than 2.5 million pieces of disputed or false online information targeting Taiwan in the first nine months of this year — up about 48% from 1.69 million a year earlier — ahead of November's mayoral and county elections, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disinformation report, Reuters said. Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory over the island's objections, has previously denied interfering in Taiwanese elections or spreading disinformation. The interference claims in this story are Taiwan's allegations, reported as such.