Chinese propagandists are scam-calling those buying anti-Communist party books

Over the last year and a half, China has upped the ante on Taiwan, especially after former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island nation. Now, Chinese propagandists masquerading as marketing professionals areattempting to brainwash Taiwanese nationals to achievetotal unification.

Recently, aTaiwanese woman named Yang Hsin-tzu was targetted incessantly by the Chinese IT cell after shepurchased a book titled 'If China Attacks' which essentially is anti-CPC (Communist Party of China) in its leanings.

Yang bought the book fromEslite Bookstore in February but received a mysterious call last Saturday (May 13) which piqued her interest. Yang, who is a deputy executive secretary for a non-profit, "Here I Stand Project" took to Facebook to chronicle her experience.

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Yangsaid she missed two "strange" calls with the country code +28. However, when the phone rang the third time, she picked up the call and heard a soft female voice on the receiver's end.

“The voice was female, and from the beginning, she spoke in a very diffident tone,” Yang wrote, adding that the woman claimed to a representative ofEslite Bookstore who was conducting a survey followingYang’s purchase of the book.

When she quizzed the caller on what the survey was regarding, the Chinese propagandist said, “The book you bought contains very sensitive content...This book’s content is inappropriate, so I wish to hear your opinion.”

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Having talked for a few minutes on the phone, Yang realised that the accent of the caller was faux-Taiwanese, meaning she was not a Taiwanese native.

“At that moment, I was both nervous and excited, not wanting to miss the chance to face-off directly with Chinese communists," added Yang who told the caller to revert once she has picked up the book.

This time Yang prepared to record the call but instead of the woman, she got a man on the follow-up call. The said man claimed to be fromEslite Bookstore’s marketing department.

Unlike the woman caller, the man had no pretence and right off the bat, started kicking Taiwan and schooling Yang that even though she was not born in China, she was a native.

“China has strong military prowess, there is no way Taiwan will come out victorious," said the caller, who repeatedly claimed that the US won't help Taiwan and thatKuomintang (KMT) is better.

He also declared, “the unification of Taiwan is inevitable, voting for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will result in unification by force, and voting for the KMT will result in peaceful unification and one country, two systems!”

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China'spsychological warfare

It is common knowledge that scammers from China have been targeting online shoppers in Taiwan. Their main aim is to not engage in financial fraud but to conduct psychological warfare and sow seeds of confusion about the Taiwanese Army and government.

“This time, they weren’t trying to scam me for my money, they were trying to conduct cognitive warfare with me, trying to find out Taiwan’s public opinion and Taiwanese’s thoughts about the book," added Yang.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Administration for Digital Industries has summonedEslite Bookstore representatives to explain the loopholes in their cyber security system which allowed non-state actors to get hold of customer data.

China drumming up the intensity of scam calls comes in the backdrop of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen recently visiting the US and meeting the top leaders.

(With inputs from agencies)

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