Taiwanese national security authorities said that several audio recordings recently circulated online allegedly reveal admissions by officials of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regarding interference in Taiwan’s elections.
The recordings reportedly document discussions in 2018 between a PLA Strategic Support Force official surnamed Ding and Qi Zhongxiang, head of Beijing Womin High-Tech Co., Ltd.
According to the recordings, the PLA allocated approximately 20 million yuan (US$3 million) to its affiliated 56th Research Institute—publicly known as the Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology—to purchase a “public opinion sentiment analysis system” from Womin. The system was allegedly intended to analyze, predict, and manipulate public opinion in Taiwan, with a particular focus on the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral election.
In the first recording, Ding is heard saying that an initial 5 million yuan budget would be used to interfere in Taiwan’s 2018 local elections. If the operation proved successful, an additional 15 million yuan would be invested ahead of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election to support more extensive election forecasting and influence efforts.
In the second recording, Ding emphasizes the importance of technological tools for controlling public opinion and describes the Kaohsiung mayoral race as strategically critical. He claims to have accurately predicted the election outcome, saying that while others believed Han Kuo-yu would lose, he believed Han would win—an assessment he said later proved correct.
In the third recording, Qi claims that his company had already monitored and controlled six million Facebook accounts in Taiwan, with plans to expand that number to ten million. Taiwan’s security agencies assess that these accounts were used to spread disinformation, inflame social divisions, and interfere with voting behavior, actions described by those involved as “contributing to national reunification.”
Source: Up Media, December 27, 2025
https://www.upmedia.mg/tw/investigation/political/248238