The White House is warning that the Chinese government is trying to influence the result of Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday through disinformation and misinformation operations.
“It is no secret that Beijing has views on the outcome of the election and is trying to shape and coerce in various different ways,” a senior administration official granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the record told reporters in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday.
That’s
an implicit reference to the electoral race between Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Lai Ching-te and Hou Yu-ih of the opposition Kuomintang Party which is anti-independence and favors closer ties with Beijing.
The most recent polls showed Lai leading Hou by between 3 and 11 percentage points, but there’s still the possibility of an upset by Hou. A third-party candidate, Ko Wen-je, who trails both Lai and Hou, also supports cozier relations with Beijing.
