DATE=8/13/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN - PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE
NUMBER=5-44056
BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO
DATELINE=TAIPEI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: One issue that keeps tensions high across the 160-
kilometer wide strait separating China from Taiwan is
Beijing's continued threat to use military force to keep
the island from declaring independence. But, as V-O-A's
Stephanie Ho reports from the Taiwanese capital, experts
say they are not as concerned about conventional warfare as
they are about China using other, non-lethal, methods to
whip up war fears among Taiwan's 22-million people.
Text: As Taiwan sees it, China is already attacking the
island with psychological weapons.
Shortly after Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui called for
China to treat the island like an equal state, the cross-
strait mind games began. Hong Kong media were filled with
reports of Chinese war preparations. Although neither
Beijing nor Taipei did not confirm these stories, they
caused a sharp fall in Taiwan's stock market.
This week, China and Taiwan faced off in cyberspace - as
hackers from both sides of the strait defaced internet
websites maintained by the rival governments.
Military analyst Andrew Yang says these are just some of
the things China can do to undermine Taiwan without
actually shedding any blood.
// Yang act //
Well, they (Beijing) do have the capability to launch
psychological warfare. Of course. That's obvious.
Website hacking, computer hacking - that's only one form of
this warfare. Leaking information to Hong Kong newspapers.
That's a continuous process. Affecting your (Taiwan) stock
markets - that is another way to do it.
// end act //
Mr. Yang adds that if China continues to delay talks on its
entry into the World Trade Organization, this will also
have a negative effect on Taiwan -- which is ready to join
the global trading body, but cannot enter before Beijing.
The Vice-Chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, Lin
Chong-pin, calls for the island's population to strengthen
its psychological defenses.
// Lin act //
People should also be prepared for certain things,
like a paralysis of our traffic, perhaps brought about by
the use of electro-magnetic bomb or other "soft kill"
weapons. The collapse or total or temporary dis-function
of the airport, the seaport, and what about the disorder
caused by the elimination of data in the banks and in the
hospitals? These can be achieved by soft kill weapons as
well.
// end act //
When Taipei was temporarily shut down by a city-wide
electric power blackout last month, many residents panicked
and immediately thought it was caused by China. Mr. Lin
says he was coincidentally writing an article that night
about how a high-altitude nuclear device detonated by the
United States in 1961, gave out an electromagnetic pulse
that caused a blackout in Hawaii. He says the only problem
he had was how to translate the word "blackout" into
Chinese.
// Lin act //
And next morning, what I wanted, the Chinese words
appeared in all the front page of all the newspapers
headline - da ting dian, da ting dian. As if I was asking
a small question, I got a big answer.
// end act //
Although China's two-and-one-half million man army is still
much bigger than Taiwan's 450-thousand soldiers, Beijing
has been demobilizing hundreds of thousands of soldiers in
recent years.
Military analyst Andrew Yang says he thinks China will
continue developing more high-tech tools like these.
Meantime, he says Beijing could use other methods, like
blockading oil shipments to the island. He adds that China
could also send thousands of fishing boats into the strait
with some sort of military escort. If that were the case,
he says, what could Taiwan do? (signed)
NEB/HO/FC
13-Aug-1999 04:01 AM LOC (13-Aug-1999 0801 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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