China offers cash bounties for information on Taiwanese military officers

Chinese authorities have placed bounties on 18 Taiwanese military personnel, accusing them of conducting psychological operations and spreading “separatist” messages. Police in the coastal city of Xiamen offered up to $1,400 for information leading to the arrest of these officers, who are described as core members of Taiwan’s psychological warfare division. The announcement came one day after Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te pledged to bolster the island’s defenses with a new air protection system. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry rejected the accusations as “despotic and pig-headed thinking” and a form of “cognitive warfare” aimed at dividing the population. Experts noted that the wanted notice carries “little practical weight” as Taiwanese personnel do not openly visit mainland China and Beijing’s legal system holds no authority over the island.

Source: Based on reporting from Al Jazeera