Neil Thompson
On May 20, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te gave a speech to mark the completion of his first year in office, a period that has seen cross-strait tensions increase. Lai has toughened Taiwan’s stance toward Beijing, which has responded with greater military and gray zone pressure against the self-ruled island. The growing China-Taiwan tensions include both sides trading public accusations of cyberwarfare against each other’s critical infrastructure and private sectors.
Beijing recently accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of sponsoring an unnamed foreign hacking organization to target a Chinese technology company. Chinese police said up to 1,000 military, energy, and government networks were also targeted by Taiwan. Earlier in March, the Chinese government alleged that Taiwanese intelligence officers had targeted Beijing’s infrastructure. Taipei has denied all of China’s cyberwarfare accusations and accused the mainland government of spreading disinformation about Taiwan.
China too faces many allegations from foreign governments and cybersecurity researchers that it has conducted multiple cyberattacks against Taiwan. A Chinese cyberthreat actor called Earth Ammit targeted supply chains in Taiwan’s drone and satellite sectors last year; a report in May also uncovered that Earth Ammit had infiltrated the island’s heavy industry, software, media and health care sectors. In January, Taiwan’s government estimated that the daily average number of Chinese attacks had doubled to 2.4 million in 2024, with a particular focus on government and telecommunication companies’ systems.
Shadowboxing: Gathering Intelligence for an Invasion
In part, China’s stepped up cyberattacks against Taiwan and its willingness to publicly blame the island for alleged cyberattacks against Chinese targets are straight from Beijing’s traditional playbook of pressuring Taipei below the threshold of military action. Beijing has made significant progress in isolating Taiwan diplomatically, with 70 countries endorsing China’s position that it is entitled to take “all” the efforts it needs to unify the island with the mainland.
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