TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) stressed the need to inform the public about China's disinformation campaign and cultivate media literacy amongst Taiwanese to counter it.

Speaking at the 2024 Democratic Resilience Forum on Saturday (Jan. 20), Wu said that with the development of information technology, cognitive warfare is no longer limited to news but is a daily reality, CNA reported. In the future, it may intensify further, as authoritarian countries or local collaborators use it as a malign tool.

China considers Taiwan as a testing ground for cognitive warfare, Wu said. He cited a University of Gothenburg survey as saying Taiwan is the country most severely targeted by foreign government disinformation campaigns.

According to the Freedom House's China media influence report, Beijing has a significant influence on Taiwanese media, Wu added.

The foreign minister said authoritarian expansion resorts to extreme measures for infiltration, and Taiwan is at the frontline. Building democratic resilience is not only the result of the government but also the contribution of academia and civil society, Wu said.