Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese joined industry events in China such as conferences and trade fairs supported by the Chinese government in 2024, a study showed on Tuesday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward the island alongside military pressure.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own despite Taipei's objections, has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing's point of view.
Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as China's influence campaigns to sway Taiwan public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of such programs have not previously been systematically reported.
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