Cognitive Warfare Expert Enters Taipei Mayoral Race; Shen Po-yang Accuses Chiang Wan-an of Using ‘De

The Taipei mayoral race is increasingly focused on disinformation, cognitive warfare, and competing claims of political manipulation.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Shen Po-yang, an academic and former legislator known for his research on Chinese influence operations, is challenging incumbent Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an of the Kuomintang (KMT). Shen formally opened his campaign headquarters on Oct. 4, with senior DPP figures attending the event, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA).

Shen describes CCP cognitive warfare tactics

Veteran media personality Tang Hao shared a video on X on Oct. 11 highlighting Shen’s past discussion of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cognitive warfare. In the video, Shen used Falun Gong practitioners as an example while describing tactics he said were employed by CCP-linked online commentators.

The video was recorded about three years ago, when Shen appeared on the Taiwanese podcast Bailingguo News as a founder of Kuma Academy and discussed CCP information and cognitive warfare.

Using Falun Gong as an example, Shen said: “One of the things they [the CCP’s internet army] like to do most is pretend to be Falun Gong practitioners and keep criticizing the Chinese [Communist] government, but they only make accusations that have absolutely no evidence. This makes other people think Falun Gong is really low-class.”

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Host Wang Mu-chun responded, “Oh, damn! Did we fall for it? Am I being subjected to cognitive warfare all day long?”

Shen said CCP online operators follow a set of engagement tactics that can include impersonating members of groups targeted by Beijing and posting exaggerated or poorly supported attacks on the CCP itself. He described one method as “low-level blackening,” or diji hei, in which an operative mixes accurate information with false or unsubstantiated claims in an effort to discredit the identity being impersonated.

Shen said similar tactics are used against Taiwan, including accounts posing as radical supporters of Taiwanese independence and posting deliberately inflammatory comments intended to alienate other Taiwanese.

Concerns over such operations are not limited to Shen. Taiwanese officials and researchers have repeatedly warned that Beijing uses social media accounts, influencers, content farms, artificial intelligence, and other methods to influence Taiwanese public opinion. In 2023, then-National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo said Chinese cognitive warfare operations had become increasingly diverse and concealed, according to CNA.

Shen’s research focuses on Chinese influence operations

Shen co-founded Doublethink Lab in 2019 and became one of Taiwan’s prominent researchers of Chinese information operations. His work has focused on how Beijing attempts to shape political narratives through social media, online personalities, and other influence networks.

At a February 2023 seminar during the Taipei International Book Exhibition, Shen and researcher Lin Bing-you discussed CCP influence operations on platforms including Facebook and YouTube. Shen said Beijing had increasingly sought to influence younger Taiwanese audiences by donating money to emerging YouTubers and encouraging online personalities to repeat narratives favorable to China. CNA reported that Shen described Taiwan as an important testing ground for such operations.

He said financial incentives could gradually influence online personalities and other key opinion leaders, with additional creators then repeating similar narratives.

Later that year, Shen warned that Beijing’s operations were becoming more sophisticated and increasingly integrated with cyberattacks. In September 2023, he said fake accounts were becoming harder to distinguish from genuine users and described Taiwan as an experimental arena for evolving influence techniques, according to CNA.

Speaking at a Taipei forum in July 2023, Shen also argued that the CCP’s cognitive warfare sought to deepen internal divisions in Taiwan and influence voters who had not formed strong positions on cross-Strait relations, the Taipei Times reported.

Shen accuses KMT of using ‘dead cat strategy’

Those issues have become part of the current Taipei mayoral campaign, although Shen has also accused his KMT opponents of using distraction tactics against him.

Shen has described the KMT’s attacks over his past writings on drug policy as a “dead cat strategy”—introducing a sensational controversy that forces an opponent to respond and shifts attention away from other issues.

The dispute emerged after KMT politicians highlighted a 2014 article by Shen discussing harm-reduction policies. KMT lawmakers accused him of supporting the distribution of drugs through community centers, while Shen said the claims distorted a discussion of measures such as clean-needle programs and methadone treatment.

“This is pure disinformation,” Shen said of the accusations, according to an Oct. 5 CNA report. He said his earlier writing concerned drug-harm reduction and had “nothing to do with encouraging drug use.”

Chiang subsequently challenged Shen to explain where such community centers would be established and what drugs they would provide. Shen accused Chiang and the KMT of misrepresenting his position. Taiwan’s Correction Agency said the government already uses community-based addiction treatment and other diversion programs, while health officials have defended clean-needle and methadone programs as established harm-reduction measures, according to separate CNA reports and CNA health coverage.

On Oct. 12, Shen again accused Chiang of employing a “dead cat strategy” to divert attention from municipal issues. Chiang rejected the accusation, telling reporters that discussing his administration’s record was not an attempt to obscure the campaign’s focus, according to CNA.

The two candidates have also clashed over Chiang’s proposal to relocate Songshan Airport and redevelop roughly 300 hectares of the site and surrounding area as an AI industry district. Chiang announced the plan on Oct. 8, according to CNA. Shen has said the proposal requires a clear alternative for the airport and a detailed plan addressing transportation and other consequences, CNA reported.

During the campaign, Chiang publicly referred to Shen as a “cognitive warfare expert.” Shen responded that his previous research primarily concerned disinformation and conspiracy theories originating in mainland China rather than Taipei municipal politics.