TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Mandarin education center in Paris came under Chinese cyberattacks last year amid Beijing’s ongoing “united front” campaigns, a Taiwanese official said on Thursday (March 9).

Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), minister of the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), confirmed at a legislative briefing that the website and Facebook page of a Mandarin school in Paris sponsored by the Taiwanese government was hacked in April 2022. A French investigation pointed to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) overseas police stations as the culprit and that the institute has since improved its cybersecurity.

The attack appeared to be part of the CCP’s drive to push political narratives in its favor and interfere with activities among local Taiwanese communities, she said. Similar incidents have also been reported in Australia, Canada, and Latin America, CNA quoted her as saying.

L’Encrier Chinois, the attacked institute, had not experienced cyber threats in its 17 years of history until after it joined the network of the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning (TCML) in late 2021, said Lin Shu-ling (林淑琳), head of the school, in November. Attacks hit when new information was published on the school’s website and social media.

TCML is an initiative that promotes Mandarin acquisition with Taiwanese characteristics and is touted as a “free and democratic alternative” for learners. The government eyes putting in place 100 TCML institutions across the U.S. and Europe by 2025.