A Taiwanese scholar has warned that Beijing could use the vast amount of Simplified Chinese content available online to increase its influence over how artificial intelligence interprets Chinese-language knowledge worldwide.
Hung Tzu-wei, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, made the remarks during a Sept. 19 seminar in Taipei organized by the Modern Culture Foundation and World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI).
According to the Central News Agency (CNA), Hung said Beijing was seeking to “monopolize global Chinese-language interpretive authority” by supplying enormous quantities of Simplified Chinese data, which he described as a new form of knowledge inequality linked to cognitive warfare.
AI raises questions over Chinese-language data
Hung argued that China’s influence operations toward Taiwan should be viewed in two categories: short-term interference, often associated with elections and political events, and longer-term cultural infiltration.
While election-related influence campaigns tend to attract immediate government attention, Hung said long-term cultural influence could have deeper consequences by shaping the values and political outlook of younger generations.
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He also linked the issue to the rapid development of large language models, arguing that the volume and composition of training data can influence how AI systems interpret language, culture and knowledge. Although Taiwan is developing its own language models and datasets, Hung warned that “databases nobody uses have no future.”
The concern over training data is not limited to Hung. Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said on Sept. 15 that Chinese-language training material used by major international large language models remains predominantly Simplified Chinese. The ministry has been expanding its Taiwan Sovereign AI Training Corpus with Traditional Chinese material reflecting Taiwan’s language, history and culture.
Scholar outlines conditions for resistance
Wu Feng-wei, an associate professor of philosophy at Chinese Culture University, approached the issue from the ethics of resistance. Citing philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of right, Wu argued that people facing external aggression can have an obligation to resist “directly or indirectly.” Failing to support that obligation under the appropriate circumstances, he said, could constitute a “moral wrong,” according to the Central News Agency (CNA).
Wu nevertheless outlined three conditions for such an obligation. First, society should share basic principles of justice and maintain a legitimate constitutional order. Second, it must face immediate or clearly identifiable external coercion or aggression, with the severity of the threat assessed according to the circumstances. Third, citizens should have benefited from the political community through institutions and services such as health insurance, education, public safety, infrastructure and social welfare.
Democracy and cognitive warfare
Chen Chun-kai, a history professor at Fu Jen Catholic University, said democracy must protect people’s free will and their ability to make choices. According to the Central News Agency (CNA), Chen said Taiwan’s democratic development was made possible in part by people who resisted in the past as well as those who continued to engage in various forms of nonviolent resistance.
Chen said democracy requires continued protection even after democratic institutions have been established. With online influence operations, disinformation and manipulated or fabricated videos circulating widely, he said citizens need stronger media and information literacy to navigate the changing information environment.
He also argued that people have an obligation to defend the institutions and country that protect their rights so that everyone can enjoy “freedom from fear,” CNA reported.
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