Taiwan accuses China of pairing military drills with cyberattacks

Taiwan has accused China of orchestrating a coordinated campaign of military pressure and cyber warfare, alleging that large-scale hacking attempts and disinformation activity coincided with recent Chinese drills near the self-ruled island.

According to a report submitted to Taiwan’s legislature, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said cyber intrusions targeting government networks intensified sharply during the exercises conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The agency recorded more than two million hacking attempts on the first day of the drills, a figure that rose further on the second day.

The report also flagged a surge in online influence operations, including the circulation of more than 19,000 controversial or misleading messages through hundreds of abnormal social media accounts.

These posts, the NSB said, sought to undermine public confidence in Taiwan’s leadership and military, while stoking doubts about the island’s ability to defend itself and questioning support from the United States.

Security officials told lawmakers that the messaging campaign focused in particular on President William Lai and Taiwan’s armed forces, amplifying narratives aimed at sowing scepticism and division within society.

The findings were presented to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a scheduled briefing to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defence Committee.

In its assessment, the NSB said Beijing was using military drills and cyber operations in tandem to counter growing international backing for Taiwan, divert domestic attention from internal challenges and project an image of strength. The agency added that such actions were also designed to channel internal discontent within China into nationalist sentiment framed as resistance to external interference.

Tensions have remained elevated in recent weeks. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said that in late December, more than 200 Chinese military aircraft were detected operating around the island over a 48-hour period, with a significant number crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entering Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. Taipei, which enjoys strong public support for maintaining its current status, has repeatedly condemned Beijing’s military and cyber pressure as destabilising and a threat to regional security.

With IANS inputs