The local Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan established a so-called Cognitive Warfare Research Center on Thursday, "dedicated to studying the threat of online disinformation to Taiwan's democracy and security".

That is nothing more than a "thief crying stop thief", as the DPP is a time-honored master at online campaigns aimed at manipulating public opinion. It has been learning from the United States, which has been honing its craft in such manipulations to create "false truths".

The DPP has long been resorting to disinformation campaigns misrepresenting Beijing's policies to support its own rise to power on the island and its efforts to suppress opposition parties. The DPP has invested huge amounts of funds to build social networks on Facebook and X(formerly Twitter) aimed at convincing residents on the island that they are under constant "threat" from the Chinese mainland. Beneficial policies from the mainland that support the well-being of Taiwan residents are also distorted as being "harmful" to Taiwan.

To keep their monopoly on information, the DPP also forced CTI News Channel, a local TV station, to cease broadcasting by not renewing its license.

Therefore one wonders why the DPP as a master of such dark arts founded a research center to study them.

In the island's latest local leadership election, despite its candidate securing the most votes, the DPP lost its majority in the 113-seat legislative body, as its number of seats dropped from 62 to 51. That is a clear signal that despite its best efforts to influence public opinion in its favor with a torrent of disinformation, not everyone on the island can be convinced to ignore the evidence that friendly cross-Strait ties as promoted by the mainland are beneficial to the island.