So, I found an interesting thread on X…
I would not say I know much about China-Taiwan relations but I know the case of Ukraine very well. I think it was in 2015 that I listened to either Putin or Sergei Glazev saying, in reaction to Victoria Nuland’s 5 billion for the democratization of Ukraine quote, that the Russians pumped into Ukraine 200 billion green papers over the years. And he added that they did not target the right things.
While Russia was pumping billions into industry and trade, the Americans were sponsoring activists, journalists and other opinion makers. In the end Russia is forced to fight a bloody war. Now, this soft power has its limits. While the regimes such as the one in Taiwan or Ukraine welcome American NGOs, they are hostile to any such efforts coming from Russia, or China for that matter. Russia tried this economic punishment with Georgian wine, or Borjomi water, and it did not make the Georgian elite more pro Russian.
Obviously, giving trade privileges to regimes that spread propaganda against you is stupid but I believe the key is in buying influence. Wealthy Taiwanese that do business in the mainland might also sponsor the media or NGOs, as they normally do. I believe that the targeting of business should be contingent on cooperation. Simply put, you will not do business in China unless you are pro-Chinese.
Somehow in the Russia-Ukraine case, this was never really implemented. Or rather, the separatist governments in East Ukraine did expropriate possessions of Ukrainian oligarchs but the latter were able to do business in Russia proper even though their TV channels spread vile Russophobia.
Insomniac Resurrected 