Taiwan must counter China’s increasing intrusions, report says

FORUM Staff

Beijing is expanding its surveillance and influence tactics in Taiwan and the self-governed island must deter the threats to maintain its security and democracy, a United States-based think tank reported in March 2025.

The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) report asserts the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is seeking to infiltrate Taiwan through intelligence operations, cyberspace intrusions, and cultivation of civilians in politics, business, media and academia. “These operations extend beyond traditional intelligence gathering to undermine Taiwan’s societal cohesion, institutional integrity and will to resist,” the report stated.

Taiwan’s leaders should remain vigilant and take steps to counter the growing intrusions, the report said. Such measures could include tougher penalties for espionage, mandatory registration of people acting on behalf of foreign entities, prosecution of unregistered foreign agents and thorough vetting of government employees. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees policy regarding China, affirmed the need for more robust security measures, the Taipei Times newspaper reported in March.

U.S. intelligence officials say China remains the nation’s top military and cyber threat and that it also is steadily enhancing capabilities it could use against Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory and threatens to annex by force.

Such covert operations are “an existential threat to Taiwan’s democratic institutions” and require a coordinated response by government and civil society, the GTI reported.

The Taiwan Relations Act is the foundation of U.S. engagement with Taiwan. Enacted in 1979, it says the U.S. will “consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means … of grave concern to the United States.” Although the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it opposes unilateral changes to the status quo and regards Taipei as a vital economic and security partner.

Taiwan has bought nearly $50 billion in defense equipment and services from the U.S. since 1950, the Council on Foreign Relations think tank reported in September 2024. Those assets include fighter aircraft, ships, tanks, missile defense systems, missiles, artillery and drones.

Growing threats to Taiwan concern the U.S. and its Allies and Partners as a CCP invasion would destabilize the region. “The malign intentions and influence operations directed by the CCP, and the threat it poses and harm it causes to Taiwan’s democratic society is real,” the GTI stated.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te in March 2025 called on the island’s defense forces to be prepared should the CCP’s military exercises and coercive actions escalate into an attack, the Focus Taiwan newspaper reported. Taiwan’s Armed Forces must employ asymmetric warfare tactics and demonstrate resolve to defend the island, Lai said.

Lai recently oversaw the first civil defense drill commissioned by Taipei’s Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, established in 2024 to prepare for natural disasters and emergencies such as a CCP attack, Reuters news agency reported. About 1,500 people participated in the exercise.