China turns on Taiwan’s former “little pink” influencers after United Front exposé
Two Taiwanese creators who once played to China’s online crowd are now wanted men, after secretly recording a United Front recruitment pitch and releasing a viral exposé that flipped Beijing’s tone overnight.
Image by Cybernews
Two Taiwanese creators who once played to China’s online crowd are now wanted men, after secretly recording a United Front recruitment pitch and releasing a viral exposé that flipped Beijing’s tone overnight.
The united front is a Chinese Communist Party system that works to influence, co-opt, or pressure groups outside the mainland, including overseas communities, businesses, and media.
And, there are two Taiwanese content creators named Pa Chiung (filmmaker) and Minnan Wolf (influencer and rapper) who are on the edge of being targeted by Beijing for turning their back on an agreement to push pro-Beijing sentiment.
These individuals are not technically activists or political commentators, but rather influencers who were popular in Mainland China, which is rare for Taiwanese, as cross-strait politics usually cause friction.
They made travel-and-lifestyle content about opportunities in China, and in Wolf’s case, even pro-China nationalist rap music, which is why he was embraced by mainland audiences.
More from Cybernews
Sainsbury’s installs more facial rec tech in stores: Should shoppers be worried?
"Phantom squatting” uses AI hallucinated domains for cyber attacks
What they’re doing to gamers is a robbery in broad daylight
Irish parliament expands Microsoft use, despite the EU’s efforts to ditch it
Can government AI actually scrub UAP footage from the internet?
The EU and Apple CEO Tim Cook held "constructive" talks after their Siri AI dispute in Europe
It’s not that Wolf was overtly standing behind the mainland, but more so that he needed clicks and likes to rise to the top of the influencers pile.
Minnan Wolf was labelled by the Taiwanese media as “little pink,” as some online nationalist Chinese forums have pink-colored pages.
Courted, filmed, condemned
The pair were invited to Fujian, in southeastern China, for what looked like a friendly entrepreneurship event at a startup incubator.
Inside the event, some of the officials spoke about shaping Taiwanese public opinion, with some even discussing paid content opportunities should Chiung or Wolf agree to slander Taiwan and praise China.
This is textbook united front activity, but Chiung and Wolf smelled that something was awry, and they secretly recorded everything with a view to exposing the coercion.
The duo released part one of an expose documentary, which accrued in excess of 2.8 million views. Unsurprisingly, this riled Beijing, and their tone flipped instantly – Quanzhou police issued a bounty notice calling them criminals, “henchmen and accomplices for secessionist forces” to be precise.
Views meet vengeance
Chinese state media even accused Chiung and Wolf of spreading pro-independence slogans. This caused Wolf to do a 180-degree turn and go full anti-CCP (Chinese Communist Party).
In fact, the Chinese-sponsored Global Times, paraphrasing Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said the twosome are “despised by people across the Straits” and that "these petty villains must be strictly punished according to law and held accountable for life.”
Meanwhile, Pa Chiung's team uncovered a pattern of Taiwanese debtors who were lured to Fujian, with the promise of loans under the proviso that they applied for Chinese state national IDs.
One victim said he was forced to make a video claim by China, proclaiming he wasn’t coerced, and then to read the conditions of his Taiwanese pawn shop debt contract (that he was bound to).
There were 10 cases in total, and they traced back to the same police precinct address in Fujian, suggesting direct official involvement.
As of now, both men remain in Taiwan, publicly defiant and officially wanted by the Chinese authorities.
Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube.