The Taiwanese president recently announced ‘17 strategies’ to counter Chinese influence. This tough new stance is getting attention.
News Analysis
Chinese ships and military aircraft were an active presence around Taiwan this week, as the Chinese regime conducted large-scale drills in the waters around the island nation. The drills were a clear response to Taiwan’s recent announcement of a powerful arsenal of strategies to counter Chinese influence.
That raft of strategies not only sends a strong message across the strait, but also reaches out to the world with more conviction. Experts said the tougher stance should inspire greater backing for Taiwan from other countries.
The Chinese regime’s Eastern Theater Command announced its military exercises on April 1, saying it had varied operational objectives, including “blocking key areas and roads.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office noted that Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te (also known as William Lai) has referred to China as a “foreign hostile force” and recently unveiled “17 strategies” for countering threats from China.
Lai launched the series of measures over the past few weeks in the face of Beijing’s increasing infiltration efforts against Taiwan.
The initiative followed several incidents in which Taiwanese military personnel, influencers, entertainers, and their Chinese spouses cooperated with Beijing on “united front” work.
“Faced with Beijing’s intensified pressure, Taiwan requires further international support—both in terms of freedom of navigation operations in the region and stronger diplomatic backing,” Roger Liu, professor at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-Sen University, told The Epoch Times.
Countering Threats to Taiwan’s Sovereignty
Lai’s “17 strategies” are designed to respond to five major threats to the self-governing island.
Speaking to reporters after a high-level national security meeting on March 13, Lai said those threats include increased infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, attempts to confuse Taiwanese citizens about their national identity, infiltration of Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and threats from “integrated development” to attract Taiwanese businesses and youth.
The strategies call for action by the various ministries and institutions of the Taiwanese government.
One focus of Lai’s plan is what the Taipei Times has called the “reinvigoration of the military.” The new effort includes setting up military trial courts to deal with Chinese spies, enlarging civil-defense drills, and punishing retired military personnel for expressions of loyalty to China through reduced retirement benefits and penalties.
Lai cited cases in which active-duty or retired military personnel have been bought out by the Chinese regime or in which entertainers have spread Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda to advance their careers.
He noted that China recently encouraged Taiwanese citizens to apply for “residence permits,” confusing their sense of national identity. Meanwhile, he said, messaging used by Chinese state media to stir up internal discord in Taiwan “is always quickly spread by specific channels.”
According to Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, the island prosecuted 64 Chinese spies in 2024, including 28 active military personnel. That is three times the number of people charged for those offenses in 2021.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said on March 10 that it plans to propose a bill to punish active military personnel who spy for or pledge loyalty to an adversary force. The bill includes an amendment to Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces, and it aims to halt the CCP’s infiltration operations.
The Taiwanese president, along with Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and representatives from 13 countries, oversaw the island’s first “whole of society” civil defense drills in Tainan, Taiwan, on March 27.
The drills were conducted under the oversight of the new Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, created to respond to natural disasters such as tsunamis or other events such as attacks on critical infrastructure.
‘Unrestricted’ War
Courtney Donovan Smith, Taipei Times columnist, told The Epoch Times that what Lai is doing should have been done earlier, during former President Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure, a time when the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had a majority in the legislature and controlled the majority of local governments.
Currently, the DPP controls the executive branch, while the opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), controls the legislative branch in conjunction with the Taiwan People’s Party. The KMT, which has taken a “one China, different interpretations” approach, controls most local government positions as well.
“Unlike his predecessors, President Lai and his administration appear to be fully aware that the CCP considers itself in a whole-of-society ‘unrestricted’ war on Taiwan and the West,” Smith said.
Countering the United Front
Lai’s “17 strategies” are largely focused on countering the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD).
United front work blends engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations and is used by the CCP to influence other countries and access foreign technology. It is carried out by an extensive network that seeks to influence universities, think tanks, civic groups, influential individuals and institutions, and general public opinion.
A December 2024 documentary by Taiwanese YouTuber Pa Chiung about how the CCP bribes Taiwanese influencers to spread Chinese regime propaganda went viral, garnering more than 2 million views in two days.
Lai’s party, the DPP, has been wary of actions to effectively curtail united front work, Smith said, because so many curtailment methods used by the Taiwanese military during the KMT’s period of martial law on the island were used against the dissidents who founded Lai’s party.
“But Lai is moving past that history and trying to balance freedom and human rights while simultaneously checking the UFWD’s efforts to undermine Taiwan society, democracy, and institutions,” he said.
Backing Taiwan
The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 27 approved the “Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act,” which mandates that the U.S. State Department review and update its policy guidance on Taiwan every five years.
This will enable the United States to adopt a policy that remains sensitive to changing realities in the Indo-Pacific and adopt a Taiwan policy that evolves within that context.
Lai’s administration has already started reaching out to other nations in addition to the United States about the threats that it faces and its effort to defend itself against CCP aggression.
In March, Taiwan appointed Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, as a political affairs adviser to Taiwan’s Cabinet.
Peace across the Taiwan Strait is fundamental to the larger interests of the Indo-Pacific, according to experts, and it is vital that countries in the region come forward to support Taiwan’s reinvigorated security effort.
The Quad Nations
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) has “repeatedly declared that it wants to see a stable and secure Indo-Pacific, where all states abide by their international commitments not to wield the threat or use of force to change the status quo,” Ian Hall, professor of international relations at Australia’s Griffith University, said.
The Quad is a diplomatic partnership among the United States, Australia, India, and Japan.
Beijing has repeatedly threatened Taiwan and has not lived up to its promises, Hall said. The Quad nations should play a responsible role in this context, helping to maintain a democratic framework in the region.
“The Quad should do what it can to deter China from straying even further from its commitments,” Hall said.
Satoru Nagao, nonresident fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times that the Quad nations will not escape conflict if the Chinese regime attacks Taiwan. Moreover, Taiwan can be key to the Quad’s counter-China strategy.
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan will “automatically” escalate to a war of China versus the United States and Japan, Nagao, who is based in Tokyo, said.
“Additionally, U.S. fighter jets will defend Taiwan from its air bases in Japan,” he said. “If China really wants to win the war, China would need to attack the air bases in Japan. This means that Japan can’t escape from China’s military operations against Taiwan.”
Akhil Ramesh of the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum told The Epoch Times that the Trump administration looks for strategic gains in every deal it makes with a foreign government. Therefore, it will want a stronger security component in its dealings with the Quad, more than simply a “public good delivery mechanism.”
“Given President [Donald] Trump’s penchant to seek security or strategic gains for the U.S. in every deal with a foreign government, both at the bilateral and multilateral level, the Quad would be on stronger footing if it weighed in on security issues surrounding the Taiwan strait,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh cited U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement on March 30 during a trip to Tokyo. Hegseth talked about strengthening first and second island chains and “reestablishing deterrence.” The first island chain includes Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
“America is committed to sustaining robust, ready, and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait,” Hegseth said.
Ramesh said it is time for the Quad to transform into a “deterrence mechanism” in the Indo-Pacific.