Taiwan’s government on Thursday hit back at a New Year’s propaganda video created by China’s People’s Liberation Army in which President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing’s claims on the democratic island.
The video, set to the song “Chinese People” by veteran Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau, features Chinese warships and planes, and what appeared to be a Chinese fighter jet flying near a P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft that the United States sometimes sends through the Taiwan Strait.
The accompanying Weibo post read: “The officers and soldiers in the war zone are ready to fight at any time and resolutely safeguard the reunification of the motherland.”
In a Jan. 1 address to the nation, Xi vowed to unify Taiwan with the mainland.
“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same family,” Xi declared. “No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us, and no one will ever stop China’s unification.”
Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China. It is governed by the Republic of China government, formed after the 1911 fall of the Qing Dynasty under Sun Yat-sen, that fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists.
Psychological warfare
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung told reporters that the video is an example of China’s United Front propaganda targeting the island’s 23 million people, and aimed to intimidate them with an “illusion” of unity.
“It is the People’s Liberation Army showing its intimidation of Taiwan,” Lin said, adding that the video was a form of psychological warfare.
While China insists on eventual “unification” with Taiwan — by armed invasion if necessary — the majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people have no wish to give up their democratic way of life to submit to Communist Party rule.
China has threatened the death penalty for supporters of Taiwan independence, while Taipei says Beijing has no jurisdiction over the actions of its citizens.
A recent public opinion poll from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research showed that 67.8% of respondents were willing to fight to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
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The video came as Chinese warplanes and ships carried out the first “combat patrol” around Taiwan in 2025. The island’s defense ministry said it had detected 22 Chinese military aircraft including J-16 fighter jets, carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” around Taiwan in conjunction with Chinese warships starting Jan. 2.
The People’s Liberation Army video also included images of Chinese students visiting Taiwan late last year at the invitation of former president Ma Ying-jeou, who has been criticized by many in Taiwan for undermining its government.
It omits footage of Taiwanese students shouting and waving pro-democracy slogans at the Chinese delegation, however.
‘No discounts on freedom’
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said his government would boost defense spending this year to keep up its defenses and protect it’s democratic way of life.
“Taiwan needs to prepare for danger in times of peace,” Lai said in his Jan. 1 address. “We must continue increasing our national defense budget, bolster our national defense capabilities, and show our determination to protect our country.”
He called on the island’s people to build resilience, vowing to “combat information and cognitive warfare, so that the populace rejects threats and enticements and jointly guards against malicious infiltration by external forces.”
He warned people not to be enticed by Chinese ID card schemes or junkets to China, quoting a Taiwanese saying: “Nothing costs more than a freebie.”
“Democracy is priceless, and there are no discounts on freedom,” Lai warned. “A wrong step today could mean a far higher price to pay in future.”
Stealth fighter
Across the Taiwan Strait, state media said the People’s Liberation Army video showed “the determination, will and ability of officers and soldiers in the theater to stay vigilant, remain ready to fight at any time and resolutely safeguard the reunification of the motherland.”
The nationalistic Global Times newspaper quoted military experts as saying that the video also highlighted China’s latest military equipment, including references to the “ginkgo leaf” sixth-generation stealth fighter jet and the Type 076 amphibious assault ship.
“The PLA Eastern Theater Command’s release of the video on the first day of the New Year also issued a stern warning to the separatist forces of ‘Taiwan independence’,” the paper reported on Thursday.
It quoted Chinese military expert Zhang Junshe as saying that it showed China would “resolutely fight back and … will never allow any forces to split the island of Taiwan from China’s sovereign territory.”
Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said the song reminded people in Taiwan that they are “all Chinese.”
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council responded: “Taiwanese people should be more alert to China’s United Front propaganda targeting Taiwan and strengthen their understanding of cross-strait relations.”
Andy Lau
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Lau was a shrewd choice to act as Beijing’s mouthpiece, given his huge fan-base across the sinophone world.
“People who love freedom and democracy definitely won’t like Andy Lau, but he’s a very good United Front tool when it comes to centrists, or the politically apathetic,” Sang said. “He can be used as leverage.”
He said Lau, who is also a movie actor, holds a number of official posts in the Chinese Communist Party regime, including vice chairman of the China Film Association and visiting professor at the Sichuan Opera School.
Sang called on Taiwan to ban him from performing there, following a visit in November where Lau performed “Chinese People” on Taiwanese soil.
Former Hong Kong district councilor Lee Man-ho said Hong Kongers have known Lau is a mouthpiece for Chinese propaganda for years.
“A few years ago he made a video promoting the ‘Tomorrow’s Lantau’ [development] project, which was an attempt at United Front brainwashing in Hong Kong,” Lee, who now lives in Taiwan, told RFA Cantonese.
“But nobody fell for it. Everyone in Hong Kong has seen through Andy Lau.”
Lee said that back in the 1990s, Lau had been a staunch supporter of Taiwan, and used to make a point of celebrating the Republic of China’s national day on Oct. 10, instead of the Chinese Communist Party’s national day on Oct. 1.
“But after 30 years of manipulation by the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party, he has totally changed,” he said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Yam Chi Yau for RFA Cantonese.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.