TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China would likely launch an information campaign in Japan during a Taiwan Strait crisis urging the public to question why they should risk their lives for Taiwan, a Japanese scholar said Monday.

Mori Satoru, deputy director of the Keio Center for Strategy at Keio University, raised the issue at a forum on the US-Japan alliance hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, according to CSIS.

Mori described the tactic as a potent strategy that could sway public opinion in Japan. He said it could potentially topple the government and hinder US military operations to defend Taiwan while eroding the will of Taiwanese to fight.

To counter this, Mori called for peacetime efforts to educate Japanese citizens on Taiwan’s role in Japan’s national security. He said doing so could help build resilience against such messaging.

Keio University professor Tsuchiya Motohiro pointed to interference in Taiwan’s elections, where floods of messages — some identifiable by simplified Chinese — could shift mindsets. Taiwan is scheduled to hold local elections on Nov. 28 to select magistrates, mayors, and councilors.

Japan has largely avoided a direct response to Chinese disinformation campaigns so far, but that could change if Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae dissolves the lower house for a snap election on Feb. 8, as Reuters reported she is considering.