China issues bounty for Taiwan PsyOps unit for 'separatism'

11/10/2025 12:23

Chinese police on Saturday offered rewards of $1,400 for information about 18 people it said were Taiwanese military psychological operations officers spreading "separatist" messages, a day after Taiwan pledged to boost its defences.



China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has increased its military and political pressure against the island.



The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Xiamen, which sits opposite Taiwan on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, said the 18 were core members of Taiwan military's "psychological warfare unit", and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers.



The unit handles tasks such as disinformation, intelligence gathering, psychological warfare and the broadcast of propaganda, the security bureau said in a statement.



They launched websites for smear campaigns, created seditious games to incite secession, produced fake video content to mislead people, operated illegal radios for "infiltration", and manipulated public opinion with resources from "external forces", the state Xinhua news agency said in a separate report.