The Asia Fact-Checking Lab (AFCL) previously reported on how the Fujian Network media group, through its correspondents stationed in Taiwan, built a network of contacts to infiltrate Taiwanese public opinion. If activities such as reporter stationings, media industry visits, and exchanges can be considered the "land warfare" of united front work, then the use of online platforms and social media apps to deliver the messages the CCP hopes to "penetrate the island, into homes, into minds, and into hearts" should be considered the "air warfare."
This report will expose the tactics of Fujian's online propaganda campaign. Using the discussion sparked by TSMC's US investment announcement in early March as an example, through interviews, data collection, and statistical analysis, we have uncovered three key steps in Fujian's online propaganda campaign:
• Self-produce or collect specific Taiwanese media content, select and produce it into audio-visual products of various lengths and specifications.
• Used at least eight Douyin accounts controlled and owned by Fujian Network to deliver content to domestic Chinese audiences.
• Move Douyin content to the TikTok platform and send it to Taiwan and Chinese people around the world.
In the example of TSMC's investment in the United States, most of the political propaganda content disseminated on the Fujian Internet was taken from the comments of Taiwanese political commentators, commonly known as famous mouths, which were remade into short videos and then moved back to TikTok, establishing an industrial chain of "Taiwan exports, China washes the origin and then dumps it back into Taiwan's public opinion field."
TSMC's investment in the US triggers suspicion of the US
In Taiwan, politicians and commentators who hold a skeptical view of the US have consistently argued that TSMC is a bargaining chip used by the US to "hold Taiwan hostage." AFCL has repeatedly verified false information regarding the US's plan to destroy TSMC. For example, at the end of March 2023, former White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien visited Taiwan. Some media outlets reported that O'Brien advocated for the swift destruction of TSMC in the event of a cross-strait war. Former Kuomintang legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan posted on Facebook , stating that "destroying Taiwan is a bipartisan consensus in the United States." This news quickly spread throughout Taiwan, and some Taiwanese media outlets ( 1 , 2 ) cited Tsai as the source of the information.
In fact, after verifying the video and personally asking O'Brien himself, it was confirmed that this was his speech at a public forum earlier. He mentioned that if China invades Taiwan by force, Taiwan's semiconductor industry may not be able to escape unscathed. However, this speech was mistakenly reported by some media as the United States will take the initiative to destroy Taiwan's semiconductor industry.
Similar to the "wartime destruction of TSMC" statement, US Congressman Seth Moulton's remarks were also used by the Chinese state media Global Times via a TikTok short video and an X platform account, claiming that "the US has a real plan to destroy Taiwan." However, AFCL's verification confirmed that Moulton's original intention had been distorted.
How does Fujian Network deploy its short video battlefield?
TSMC Chairman Wei Zhejia announced at the White House at around 3:30 a.m. Taiwan time on March 4 that the company would invest $100 billion in the United States. Major Taiwanese media outlets issued breaking news the same morning.
The "TSMC becomes US TSMC" campaign was initiated by the Taiwan Strait Net account. At 10:30 AM that day, the account published a clip of former Kuomintang legislator Cheng Li-wen, who spoke on the Taiwan China Television (CTV) program "Common People's Big Boss" on November 9, 2024, saying, "To blindly obey the US is the most foolish thing."
Next, eight Douyin accounts under Fujian Network began to fully repost Taiwanese media content, increasing the negative voice about TSMC's investment in the United States.
On the TikTok platform, AFCL can confirm that there are eight accounts owned and controlled by the Fujian Radio and Television Group and the Fujian Daily Newspaper Group:
The Strait Herald, a newspaper under the Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, controls accounts with the same name, as well as "Taiwan Strait Net." Southeast TV, a flagship program under the Fujian Radio and Television Group, controls "Taiwan Strait Moments," while Strait Shinkansen, a news program, also controls accounts with the same name.
The four Douyin accounts "Taiwan Strait Net", "Taiwan Strait Moment", "Strait Shinkansen" and "Strait Herald" can be said to be the four accounts with the clearest intentions targeting Taiwan in the short video battlefield of Fujian Network. Their influence cannot be underestimated. As of April 14, the total number of subscriptions of the eight channels exceeded 110 million, and the total number of views was close to 2.2 billion. These four accounts accounted for 76% of the total number of subscriptions and more than 80% of the total views.
More than half of the videos posted daily by these accounts are reposts of speeches by Taiwan’s blue camp politicians, pro-blue and even pro-China commentators, with the main focus being criticism of the DPP government and President Lai Ching-te.
To analyze how Fujian's Douyin (TikTok) accounts manipulate public opinion, AFCL collected videos related to TSMC's investment in the United States from eight TikTok accounts from March 4 to 10, a week after TSMC announced its investment in the United States. Short videos that only reported Trump's speeches were excluded, and their editing sources and release times were analyzed.
In the week from March 4 to March 10, eight Douyin accounts under Fujian Network posted a total of 99 short videos related to TSMC's investment in the United States. 90% of the videos were from China Television Group and TVBS. Although a few were taken from state media's own programs, the protagonists were still famous Taiwanese commentators.
Of the 99 videos, only five featured Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians, including President Lai Ching-te, Premier Toh Jung-tai, Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Chih-hui, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wu Si-yao. Furthermore, only one video quoted a prominent Chinese commentator, while the remaining 93 videos all featured KMT politicians or prominent Taiwanese commentators.
"Strait New Line", which belongs to the "Fujian Radio and Television Group", has the greatest impact, carrying a total of 35 videos of Taiwanese celebrities and politicians. "Strait Herald" and "Taiwan Strait Net", which also belong to the "Fujian Daily Newspaper Group", carry 20 and 14 videos respectively. In total, the two major media groups have carried similar amounts of videos.
Observing the posting times of the 99 videos reveals that Fujian's online community reacted swiftly to the "TSMC US investment" incident. Most accounts launched their crackdown on March 4th. For the first three days, these eight channels reposted over 20 videos daily, with "Cross-Strait Shinkansen" in particular consistently posting 8 to 11 videos daily. These accounts not only reposted content from Taiwanese political commentary programs, but also edited, post-produced, and uploaded many of the videos within 24 hours of the programs' broadcasts.
Want Want has become a database of short videos on the Fujian Internet.
AFCL manually compared the sources of 99 videos one by one. Aside from 16 videos with unknown sources or possibly a common signal pool among the interviewing units, the remaining sources can be summarized into four categories:
1. Taiwan Want Want China Times Media Group, 47 articles
2. Taiwan TVBS, 9 articles
3. Political commentator’s personal channel, 7 articles
4. Chinese state media’s own content, 20 pieces
According to AFCL statistics, six political commentary programs under Want Want Group were used as fodder for eight state-run media outlets' Douyin platforms. Of the 99 videos, 47 were from Want Want Group, representing over half of the total. CTS's "Common People's Big Boss" was the primary source, being reposted 12 times. CTI's "Big News Big Explosion," "CTI Spicy Evening News," and "Headline Talk" were reposted five times each.
In addition to the Want Want Group, TVBS's two major political commentary programs, "Shao Kang War Room" and "News in Plain Language", were also reposted a total of nine times.
A handful of other channels are from prominent political commentators, though some of these channels also have partnerships with Want Want Group. Founder Media Technology Co., Ltd.'s "Gen Media" and CTI's YouTube channels refer to each other as "CTI Friends Circle." Guo Zhengliang's channel is also operated by "Gen Media." Furthermore, the partnership between "Tsai Cheng-yuan Lectures" and Want Want Group can be discerned from the program content. At the beginning of each episode, Tsai Cheng-yuan reads out the simulcast channels, including CTI and "Gen Media."
However, these 99 videos weren't all sourced externally. Nearly 20% of the content was produced and distributed by Fujian-based online platforms, with the largest portion being edited from the program "Strait Today." "Strait Today" features news interspersed with political commentary. While the program is pre-recorded or produced online, a significant number of its guests are Taiwanese, providing Taiwanese commentary on Taiwan-related issues.
As shown above, 70% of the propaganda on Taiwan-related issues by the eight official Fujian-based TikTok accounts was sourced from Taiwanese media or independent commentators' own media programs. This demonstrates that the diverse spectrum of Taiwanese political discourse provides Fujian-based online platforms with an opportunity to exploit certain, even polarizing, positions to generate commentary that "uses Taiwan to control Taiwan."
The routines of Fujian online narrative and content
AFCL also conducted a content analysis of 99 TikTok videos. First, the headlines can be broken down into the following components: "TSMC announces US investment + celebrity commentator + quote." Further categorizing these 99 headlines revealed three main themes in Chinese state media's manipulation of the TSMC US investment issue:
1. The DPP is selling out Taiwan
"The DPP sells out Taiwan, TSMC is hollowed out" is the most frequently appearing narrative type. Videos carried by official media repeatedly mention that the DPP handed TSMC over to the United States, which will lead to a comprehensive outflow of Taiwan's technology and talent. Common statements include "TSMC has become American TSMC," "selling out," and "selling Taiwan group." There are also many clips of famous commentators using "selling one's body," "selling one's son for fame," "losing both the wife and the army," "raising a daughter and giving her away and paying for the dowry" to compare Taiwan-US investment to derogatory statements about women or traditional marriage relationships.
. Blaming Individuals
In the "blame the individual" narrative, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and Premier Toh Jung-tai became targets, accused of hollowing out Taiwan and being "kneelers," "Taiwan traitors," and "selling out Taiwan." Chinese state media particularly favored Taiwanese commentators who compared Lai Ching-te to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Two days before TSMC announced its US investment, Trump and Zelensky clashed in the White House, with Trump criticizing Ukraine for being ungrateful. Taiwanese commentators used Zelensky's experience as a contrast, creating a tragic narrative of "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow," and portraying Taiwanese leaders as untrustworthy.
3. Taiwan-US relations are untrustworthy
The narrative that Taiwan-US relations are unreliable emphasizes that the US is solely concerned with its own economic interests and that seizing TSMC will not protect Taiwan. Common statements include "The US takes what it wants," "Taiwan has been skinned twice," and "Trump doesn't care whether Taiwan lives or dies." These are typical examples of anti-US sentiment, suggesting that the US's Taiwan policy is unequal and that Taiwan will ultimately be abandoned by the US.
Who does Fujian Internet like to use the most?
AFCL also found that Fujian online platforms amplified the voices of certain Taiwanese commentators. Tsai Cheng-yuan appeared 16 times in 99 videos, with the "Haixia Shinkansen" Douyin account being the most frequent reposter of Tsai's remarks. Xie Hanbing and Guo Zhengliang ranked second and third, with Xie Hanbing appearing evenly across channels and being most frequently featured on "Haixia Shinkansen," while Guo Zhengliang appeared most frequently on "Taiwan Strait Net."
In Tsai Cheng-yuan's remarks on TSMC's plan to set up a factory in the United States, there were three sets of video footage from different sources, which were packaged and reproduced by multiple Fujian official media accounts.
On March 4th, during a live broadcast of China Television's "Headline Talk," Tsai Cheng-yuan directly accused the DPP government of "selling out Taiwan." This speech was edited and uploaded to the Straits Express at 3:20 PM the following day. The Straits Herald also edited the same segment at 6:04 PM.
During the live broadcast of Tsai Cheng-yuan's lecture on March 5, a segment about 20 minutes in criticized the Democratic Progressive Party for "selling out TSMC and currying favor with the United States." It was uploaded to TikTok by "Strait Shinkansen" and "Taiwan News Face" at 5:02 PM and 5:47 PM that day, respectively. Both videos edited in the phrase "Free auction to curry favor with the United States" and included it in the video titles.
Also at 2:00 PM on the 5th, Tsai Cheng-yuan appeared on the live broadcast of China Television's "Big News, Big Gossip." This revelation became a hot topic for state media manipulation. Tsai's six- to nine-minute speech was split into at least four clips. The content included phrases such as "Investing $100 billion = blackmail," "The mainland stands, the DPP kneels," "Giving away a daughter and paying for her dowry," and "Trump says he won't subsidize TSMC." These clips were released the following day by "Strait Shinkansen," "Strait Herald," and "Taiwan Strait Time," at 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM, and 5:00 PM, respectively, demonstrating a pattern of multiple clips of a single source material being released across multiple accounts.
China's official media TikTok account also edited and remade the remarks of celebrity commentator Xie Hanbing multiple times.
On March 4th, during a live broadcast of TVBS's "News in Plain Language," Xie Hanbing commented on TSMC's US factory expansion, stating, "This isn't a sale at all; it's a direct gift to the US." This comment appears at the 2:07 mark of the live broadcast. AFCL observed that this comment was quoted by at least two Chinese state media accounts. "Taiwan News Face" first published the content at 8:30 PM on March 5th, with the headline stating, "Directly gifted to the US!" Three days later, "Taiwan Strait Net" reposted the same paragraph at 10:49 AM on March 8th.
On March 6th, at 8:00 PM, on China Television News' "Headline Talk," Xie Hanbing again commented on TSMC's move to the US, criticizing the Lai Ching-te administration for "shamefully handing TSMC over to the US." This clip was posted at approximately 23 minutes and 18 seconds into the live broadcast. The same footage was released the following day, on March 7th, by "Taiwan News Face," and again by "Cross-Strait Herald" at 3:33 AM on March 8th. Both videos were titled "Shamefully," focusing on the fact that "Taiwan has completely lost both its reputation and its reputation."
Furthermore, the five aforementioned transmission chains reveal that the Douyin accounts belonging to Fujian's two major media groups all targeted the same paragraphs, with no one missing. AFCL cannot prove a systematic reposting strategy, but data suggests significant overlap between Tsai Cheng-yuan and Hsieh Han-bing's speeches on official media Douyin accounts, with the reposts occurring at similar times.
Why does the official media want to reproduce Taiwanese content for Chinese people to watch?
Unlike TikTok, Douyin only targets users within China's firewall. Fujian's official online media has been reposting a large number of Taiwanese media's political commentary programs. What might be their purpose?
He Ping (a pseudonym), a former Bytedance employee, told us in an interview that the Douyin product focuses on highly entertaining content because it generates high traffic. Political content is generally not promoted, and videos related to Taiwan are not specifically categorized as such, but are instead included in news information.
He believes that while cross-strait relations are not the primary focus, Taiwan-related issues are still part of political news. Official media still need to conduct extensive internal propaganda, telling the public that "Taiwanese people recognize us as a powerful motherland." However, the interviewee emphasized, "For them, this (Taiwan-related political propaganda) isn't that important. I personally think it's more of an online errand." There also seems to be a division of labor between different media outlets. "While some official media outlets will reprint content from China Television, Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily don't."
Why is this content concentrated on Douyin? He bluntly explained that Douyin's audience has a relatively low level of education and income. "People with higher incomes and education tend to be on Xiaohongshu. These people simply don't buy into the tactics of people like Lai Yueqian." The former employee believes the purpose of reposting these videos is "probably to maintain the existing 'Taiwan is part of us' narrative."
However, AFCL also found that when the content produced by Taiwanese media and remade by Chinese official media flows back to TikTok, it may no longer be possible to explain it as "crossing over".
Content taken from Taiwan, processed and poured into the Chinese-speaking world
Taiwan's National Security Bureau released a national security report on April 8th , stating that it has identified over 3,600 anomalous accounts since 2025, primarily on Facebook and TikTok. TSMC's investment in the United States was one of the topics targeted. The NSA noted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using state media, social media platforms, cybersecurity groups, and public relations firms to conduct cognitive warfare against Taiwan, using tactics such as anomalous accounts to influence public opinion, fake posts by hackers, and the manipulation of proxy accounts.
AFCL also observed that some of the 99 Douyin-reproduced videos we reviewed also appeared on TikTok. The chronological order is similar: after the Taiwanese political commentary aired, the official Douyin account would remake the short video in simplified Chinese within one or two days, and the TikTok account would then remake the traditional Chinese version on the same day or the next.
The TikTok account "Two Tea Eggs" is a particularly noteworthy account. On March 10th, it posted a short video titled " TSMC invests hundreds of billions in the US, Zhou Xiwei: We will be at the mercy of the US government ." This closely matches a clip posted on March 9th by the Douyin account "Taiwan Strait Net," titled "TSMC invests hundreds of billions in the US, Zhou Xiwei criticizes: We will be at the mercy of the US government, a dead end!" The source of the clip was a post on the Zhongtian ctitalk online forum on March 8th. The subtitles superimposed on the two videos differ in traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese, but the content is virtually identical.
We previously mentioned that Tsai Cheng-yuan appeared on the live broadcast program "Big News, Big Gossip" on China Television on March 5. Afterwards, the official media edited it into four videos. Among them, the "DPP is still sleeping. This is complete blackmail" re-created by "Strait Shinkansen" also appeared in the "Two Tea Eggs" account. Apart from the difference in traditional and simplified Chinese, both used the same paragraph and similar titles. AFCL also noticed that the special effect fonts used by both were of the same style.
Xie Hanbing's "embarrassing remarks" delivered on China Television Headlines on March 6th, not only appeared on Douyin's "Taiwan News Eye" and "Cross-Strait Herald" on March 7th and 8th, but also a traditional Chinese version appeared on the "Two Tea Eggs" account on March 8th.
The videos promoted by "Two Tea Eggs" overlap with those of multiple official media outlets, while another account, " Big Shot Camera ," highly overlaps with the Douyin account "Taiwan Strait Moments."
It is worth noting that the title of the video moved by "Da Ka Kai Mai La" is exactly the same as that of Douyin's "Taiwan Strait Moment", with only the font changed and simplified Chinese converted to traditional Chinese, and the release time of both is the same day.
We found that there has long been an official account for Taiwan Strait Times on TikTok , and it has been labeled as a "Chinese state-controlled media." Big Shot Camera happens to be a program column under Taiwan Strait Times' YouTube channel , which makes people highly suspect that "Big Shot Camera" should also be operated by Taiwan Strait Times, although it has not yet been labeled as an official media.
Who do these TikTok accounts belong to?
Two senior analysts at the Taiwan Democracy Lab analyzed the business strategies of these accounts in an interview with AFCL. "You can see these short videos with 'Chinese characters' (referring to those from China Television or CTV) on both Douyin and TikTok. If a Chinese person were to express skepticism about the US or criticize Taiwanese society, that wouldn't be very persuasive. So, they're very clever in getting Taiwanese people to say bad things about Taiwan. This is a very mainstream way to spread opinions about Taiwan."
Could these TikTok accounts be fabricated by state media? The analyst said there's no evidence to support this conclusion, but he identified two possibilities:
First, these accounts know that the official media labeling might hinder dissemination, so they use third-party accounts to debunk the source. Another possibility is that these accounts already have a pro- or pro-CCP political leaning, and when they realize that the traffic for these videos is real, they continue to repost them.
A 2024 report published by the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG) analyzed Chinese state media's propaganda activities on the TikTok platform from July to November of that year. Tracking over 20,000 TikTok accounts, the report found that 147 of these accounts used material similar to Chinese state media's TikTok videos and disseminated them to international audiences. Among these accounts was the account "Two Tea Eggs," which was suspected of being a proxy for Chinese state media.
You Zhihao, co-director of the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center, believes that the dissemination path of these short videos isn't strictly a "made in Taiwan, exported, sold domestically" model, but rather a "made in Taiwan, certified by the Chinese Communist Party, co-produced, and released separately" model. These accounts may also influence the platform's recommendation mechanism, or algorithm, by disseminating the same content or engaging in other collaborative activities, thereby increasing the reach of these accounts and related topics.
You Zhihao pointed out, "It's reasonable to infer that the TikTok proxy accounts target any Chinese-speaking audience using TikTok, including Taiwanese and Chinese communities around the world. They shape their impressions of Taiwan, the United States, and China, essentially reinforcing a 'worldview' that favors China among Chinese-speaking audiences. This is the harm these accounts cause." (End)
The first nine reports in the series "CCP Propaganda in Taiwan" are as follows:
Part 2: The large-scale external propaganda structure behind Lin Jingdong and Lin Xianyuan
Part 3: How were old local newspapers instilled with pro-China narratives?
Part 4: The two "Daobao" newspapers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait
5. Fujian Network, the Operator of United Front Work Against Taiwan
6. Should we regulate the Internet? That is a question.
No. 7: Fujian’s online program on united front against Taiwan, Made in Taiwan?
Part 8: The Mainstream Media's Pro-China Path and the "Great Liberation" of the Internet
