Beijing says Anonymous64 ‘cyber army’ targeting mainland China is backed by Taiwan

Taipei information command denies claims as Beijing’s Ministry of State Security vows to ‘resolutely crush all separatist attempts’

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Beijing’s top intelligence agency says the Anonymous64 group on X is “waging online ideological and public opinion battles against the mainland” on behalf of Taipei. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:04pm, 23 Sep 2024Updated: 6:41pm, 23 Sep 2024

Beijing’s top spy agency says it has identified a group of Taiwanese hackers it claims backed by Taipei’s defence ministry and is hacking websites on the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau to “defame” mainland China’s political system.

A hacker group called Anonymous64 is “a cyber army raised by the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”, according to an article published by the Ministry of State Security on its official public WeChat account on Monday morning.

The “forces” referred to by Beijing’s top intelligence agency is the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) under the Ministry of National Defence in Taipei.

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Beijing accused the command of “waging online ideological and public opinion battles against the mainland”. It comes at a time of significant deterioration in cross-strait relations, particularly after William Lai Ching-te became Taiwan’s new leader in May.

Lai, who represents Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has been called a “separatist” and “troublemaker” by Beijing.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, Taiwan’s top weapons supplier, do not recognise the island as an independent state. However, Washington is opposed to any attempt to take Taiwan by force and is committed to arming it.

ICEFCOM – which is in charge of the self-ruled island’s electronic warfare – rejected the allegations on Monday, saying the command was “responsible for carrying out tasks such as providing defence information and maintaining cybersecurity”.

Screenshots released by Beijing’s Ministry of State Security were linked to an account on X called Anonymous64.