Taiwan says China's war games sought to undermine global support for the island

By Yimou Lee

TAIPEI, Jan 7 (Reuters) - China's war game exercises around Taiwan last week were part of a campaign to counter growing international support for the island and an attempt to divert attention away from Beijing's economic troubles, Taiwan's top security agency said on Wednesday.

As part of its exercises, called "Justice Mission 2025," China fired dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deployed a large number of warships and aircraft near the island. That caused dozens of domestic flights in Taiwan to be cancelled and drew concern from allies in the region and the West.

"The Taiwan-focused drills carried clear political intent: to push back in the international arena against democratic partners' support for Taiwan," the National Security Bureau said in a report to Parliament. A copy of the report was reviewed by Reuters.

The drills, China's most extensive war games to date by coverage area, were also meant to "redirect public anger over economic setbacks and social disorder at home into nationalist sentiment framed as 'resisting external interference,'" the report said.

The report said China has been ramping up a "hybrid" campaign to pressure Taiwan militarily and economically, drawing resistance from democratic partners in the U.S. and Europe.

The report also pointed to a comment from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan late last year. She said a Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could be deemed an existential threat to Japan. The report said the comment underscored how security in the Taiwan Strait was viewed as directly linked to stability in the Indo-Pacific and international order.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Speaking at a regular press conference on Wednesday, the office said recent military drills around Taiwan, including those held last week, were intended to "staunchly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The exercises were also aimed at "upholding the shared interests of compatriots on both sides of the strait and the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation," it said.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taipei strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

The report said that during the drills, China used state media, artificial intelligence-generated content and online "troll armies" to amplify its narratives, cast doubt on the Taiwanese military's capabilities and undermine trust in President Lai Ching-te and the U.S.

Some 19,000 "controversial messages" were pushed out across several social media platforms by 799 accounts in the span of five days, the report said.

On the first and second day of the drills, Taiwan's government received more than two million cyberattacks, the report said. It named the People's Liberation Army‑linked hacking groups APT24 and BlackTech as being among the most active participants. 

China's armed forces have been synchronising hacking campaigns with military drills around Taiwan to "disrupt the island's cybersecurity environment and unsettle public morale," the report said.

China has routinely denied being involved in hacking attacks.

(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)