Combating Beijing’s Sharp Power: Taiwan's Democracy Under Fire

Taiwan, one of Asia's fullest democracies, is the target of China's most aggressive attempts to exert authoritarian influence. Chinese influence operations started to receive special attention by members of civil society and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) after the 2016 national election in Taiwan. China's efforts to penetrate, coopt, and weaken Taiwan's political institutions, society, election integrity, and civic organizations have constituted a major aspect of its overall strategy toward Taiwan. This essay aims to identify influence operations used by the Chinese Communist Party against Taiwan, and to elucidate the responses from Taiwan's robust and vibrant civil society to defend its democracy.