The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) fourth-ranking leader, and its lead in charge of Taiwan affairs, Wang Huning, convened a meeting of various departments in late November to discuss CCP influence operations in Taiwan. A senior Taiwanese security official shared news of the meeting with a group of selected media earlier this month, according to CNN.

A scholar from Taiwan's Institute of National Defense and Security Research told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview that the CCP's agenda for manipulating the January elections has turned Taiwan into the "most dangerous place in cyberspace."

"With fast developments in AI tools, new types of malicious software, [and the] criminal chain of Ransomware as a Service [RaaS], Taiwan is suffering from more diverse cyber attacks," according to Wu Tsunghan, an assistant research fellow with the institute.

Mr. Wu shared his viewpoints in a conference jointly organized by New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Taiwanese mission on Dec. 9. He reminded the gathering that Taiwanese businesses were attacked 3,245 times every week on average in the first half of 2023.

Overall, 15,000 cyber threats were detected every second during the same period, making Taiwan the most attacked location in Asia-Pacific cyberspace, according to Fortinet, a U.S. cybersecurity firm.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese security expert told reporters that Mr. Wang, who became head of Taiwanese affairs earlier in 2023, has instructed officials to "step up their effectiveness" in influencing Taiwan's public opinion, ahead of the Jan. 13 elections.