Taipei:China's election interference in Taiwan is increasingly targeting specific groups and audiences, a senior official from Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) revealed on Thursday.

According to Focus Taiwan, NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen indicated that Beijing is mobilizing airlines to offer discounted tickets to select Taiwanese citizens living in China, enabling them to return home and vote in the upcoming November local government elections for candidates supported by China. Furthermore, there are suspicions that China is providing illicit funding to candidates and political groups it favors.

The NSB, along with other intelligence agencies, is actively investigating these interference cases. They have identified several key tactics, such as suspected bribery of Taiwanese voters through cheap sightseeing visits to China, spreading disinformation, operating illegal betting pools, and hacking to steal election-related intelligence. Tsai mentioned that artificial intelligence tools are being employed to trace the sources of disinformation.

The NSB aims to collect sufficient evidence of the suspected election interference to hand over to judicial authorities for investigation before the local government elections on November 28. Tsai also reported to the legislative committee that Taiwan's Government Service Network is experiencing an average of 2.58 million cyber intrusion attempts per day, a significant increase since June, potentially linked to the upcoming elections.

In response to questions about a recent incident involving comedian Huang Yi-hao, who was injured in an allegedly staged traffic accident, Tsai stated that it crossed a serious line in Taiwan's democratic society. Prosecutors in New Taipei have accused China of instigating the incident to prevent Huang from performing. Several individuals, including a Chinese national known only as "K," have been indicted.

Tsai highlighted that China's transnational repression is intensifying, with tactics shifting to evade Taiwan's laws, such as staging traffic accidents. The priority in this case is to ensure the victim's protection and that those responsible face severe consequences.