POLITICAL WARFARE WATCH: Chang Wei-shan’s Troubling Connections

A young employee at the Executive Yuan who supports unification is also involved with organizations that promote the secession of Okinawa from Japan 

Chang Wei-shan (張瑋珊) is innocent-looking enough. She is 24 years old, a native from Yunlin, and currently works at the Executive Yuan as part of its “new media” team, created last year after the Sunflower Movement, when Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) was still premier. At the weekend, the young woman became the object of controversy after it was revealed that she had appeared in a program by the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television on “pro-unification youth in Taiwan,” which aired as part of the commemorations surrounding the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II. More troubling are the people she associates with. 

To summarize the interview: Chang grew up believing she was a Taiwanese and that China was a threat. She was raised to unquestionably support Taiwanese independence, and to “venerate the Japanese,” which she blames on the “de-Sinicized” education she received under former presidents Lee and Chen (interestingly, she checks all the boxes listed recently by supporters of the China-centric changes to school curriculum guidelines). Following her “awakening,” which she says occurred after she read various Chinese history books, Chang realized that Taiwan and China’s fates are “inseparable,” that she was “Chinese,” and became a supporter of Taiwan’s unification. 

My article, published today in Thinking Taiwan, continues here.