[Central News Agency] The first global physical conference since the establishment of the Taiwan Democracy Lab was recently held in Berlin, attracting more than 250 experts who study China's influence from around the world.

The "China in the world" (CITW for short, formerly translated as "China in the World") annual conference hosted by the non-profit organization Taiwan Democracy Lab will be held in Berlin for three consecutive days starting from the 6th. Participants from Europe, the United States, NGO workers, officials, and scholars from Africa, Central Asia, New Zealand, and Australia gathered to discuss how China expands its influence through propaganda and funding, and share identification and response strategies.

Please read on...

The Taiwan Democracy Lab was established in 2019. In addition to paying attention to China's information manipulation of Taiwan's public opinion environment, it has also established a transnational community to study China's influence in the process of interacting with people from various countries; due to the epidemic, meetings could only be held online in the past , this Berlin meeting is the first physical meeting, which is of great significance to this civil society.

Executive Director Wu Mingxuan said in an interview with a reporter from the Central News Agency that many non-governmental organizations and scholars specializing in human rights and environmental issues have found that the government’s contacts with China will bring about corruption and pollution problems, but they do not have a background in Chinese studies and have no understanding of Chinese politics. and operating methods do not understand, so the demand for communication within the community is very large.

Wu Mingxuan emphasized that China can certainly expand its influence in the world, but there may be malicious intentions behind it, it may not conform to international norms, or it may assist the dictatorship. It is a safe space for people who study China's influence from various countries to know each other, build trust and find commonalities, and further promote cross-regional and cross-field cooperation.

As for why Berlin was chosen for the office, Wu Mingxuan said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine let the world see the true face of the dictator, how to deal with totalitarian countries with different systems has become the focus of discussion among democratic countries; the reason for choosing Berlin is that Germany is a European country influenced by China The largest country, and Germany is discussing the new China policy, I hope you pay more attention to the developments in Germany and Europe.

A total of 45 activities were held at the Berlin Conference, with more than 250 participants. The discussion atmosphere was lively. Today, members of the German Parliament and scholars from various European countries were invited to analyze China’s policies. It was a successful conference. The Taiwan Democracy Lab plans to Back to Taiwan to continue.

(Editor: Yang Zhaoyan) 1111209