Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday on China’s potential capacity to manipulate public opinion in Taiwan’s upcoming elections. The report cited leaked internal documents from Chinese intelligence analysis companies on how they already disseminate information using generative AI, making it indistinguishable from the real thing.

The Japanese periodical reported that the Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security obtained internal documents from a Chinese company, called GoLaxy, which the institute made publicly available online earlier this year. In the 400-page briefing, the document mentions that GoLaxy “provides technology for situational awareness, analysis, and public opinion manipulation on issues of concern to the Communist Party Central Committee, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and US-China relations."

The document further states that GoLaxy’s system can monitor cyberspace and seek out influential figures to generate fake social media profiles resembling these figures, down to such details as psychological tendencies, values, and dialect spoken. These fake accounts can then provide intelligence while engaging in natural-seeming conversations to influence the target audience.

The Yomiuri Shimbun report spoke to a Taiwanese AI industry insider who noted that, with the development of generative AI, it’s nearly impossible now to distinguish the authenticity of social media accounts.

The report points out how the Xi Jinping (习近平) regime hopes to prevent President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) 2028 reelection, according to Chinese sources. Therefore, propagandic manipulation is likely to become increasingly active starting in 2026 with local and mayoral elections, which can be seen as a prelude to the presidential election.

To that end, the Mainland Affairs Council held an advisory committee meeting December 1, where members pointed out that the CCP has already been observed using fake accounts on social media for United Front Work in Taiwan. The advisory committee recommended that the government strengthen the clarification of disinformation and improve the public's media literacy.