China offers cash bounties for information on Taiwanese military officers

Beijing accuses 18 unit of spreading ‘separatist’ propaganda aft Taiwan person promises aerial defence boost.

Chinese authorities person placed bounties connected 18 Taiwanese subject unit accused of conducting intelligence operations and spreading messages Beijing considers “separatist.”

Police successful the coastal metropolis of Xiamen announced the rewards connected Saturday, offering up to $1,400 for accusation starring to the apprehension of officers they described arsenic halfway members of Taiwan’s intelligence warfare division.

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The determination came 1 time aft Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te pledged to bolster the island’s defences with a caller aerial extortion strategy and accrued subject spending.

Authorities published photographs, names and recognition numbers of the individuals, claiming they operated websites for disinformation campaigns, created online games promoting independency and produced misleading video content.

Xiamen’s nationalist information bureau, the section constabulary authorization successful the Chinese coastal city, said the officers had agelong plotted to incite what it called “separatist activities”.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry rejected the accusations arsenic “despotic and pig-headed thinking” of the Chinese government, aimed astatine dividing the colonisation and conducting “cognitive warfare”.

The bounty announcement followed an aggravated effect from Beijing to Lai’s National Day code connected Friday, successful which helium unveiled plans for a “T-Dome” aerial defence web and called connected China to wantonness threats of force.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called Lai a “troublemaker, creator of information and a war-maker,” portion the Taiwan Affairs Office accused him of attempting to propulsion separatism done unit and outer support.

State-aligned media amplified Beijing’s criticism. The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, dismissed Lai’s defence plans successful an editorial, calling the T-Dome “nothing but an costly illusion” which Taiwan’s residents were expected to ft the measure for.

Beijing claims sovereignty implicit Taiwan contempt beardown objections from Taipei, and has intensified subject and governmental unit successful caller years with the menace of a Chinese subject penetration ne'er acold from the minds of those successful Taiwan.

The wanted announcement carries small applicable weight, fixed that Taiwanese quality unit bash not openly sojourn mainland China and Beijing’s ineligible strategy holds nary authorization implicit the island. China issued a akin acceptable of bounties successful June targeting 20 radical it alleged were subject hackers, which Taiwan ignored.

US-China tensions

The escalation comes arsenic broader commercialized tensions simmer betwixt Beijing and Washington.

On Friday, Trump threatened an further 100% tariff connected Chinese imports successful retaliation for Beijing’s rare-earth metals export controls.

He besides formed uncertainty connected whether helium would conscionable China’s person Xi Jinping astatine the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation acme aboriginal this month, though aboriginal said helium hadn’t cancelled.

James Zimmerman, erstwhile president of the American Chamber of Commerce successful China, warned the quality was “putting people’s lives astatine risk” portion signalling to Beijing that “America is an unreliable and untrustworthy trading partner”.

The US is Taiwan’s main information partner, though Trump successful September paused $400m successful weapons aid, according to a report, raising concerns helium could usage the land arsenic a bargaining chip.