In recent years, interest has been growing not only in traditional military conflict but also in hybrid warfare that unfolds across various domains─including politics, economy, society, and culture. As tensions surrounding Taiwan continue to rise, the importance of responding to China's hybrid warfare aimed at forcibly unifying Taiwan has increased significantly.

In this webinar, hybrid warfare experts from NPI, along with invited specialists from Australia and Taiwan, provided an overview of the current state of hybrid warfare and discussed prospects for advancing multilateral cooperation to counter China's hybrid strategies aimed at the forced unification of Taiwan.

　Speaker: ADM (Ret.) Saito Takashi, Chairperson, Maritime Security Study Group, Nakasone Peace Institute; Former Chief of Joint Staff, JSDF

　Presenter: Mr. Kawashima Takashi, Research Fellow, National Institute of Defense Studies

　Moderator:
　LTG (Ret.) Matsumura Goro, Vice Chairperson, Maritime Security Study Group, Nakasone Peace Institute; Former Commanding General, Northeastern Army, JGSDF
　Discussants:
　 Dr. Fitriani, Senior Analyst, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
　 Mr. Chihhao Yu, Co-director, Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG)
　 Mr. Kawashima Takashi, Research Fellow, National Institute of Defense Studies

Approximately 100 participants joined the webinar, where active discussions took place among the speakers and attendees. Key points included:

　1. Since around Taiwan's 2024 presidential election, the frequency and diversity of China's hybrid warfare activities have been increasing.
China has repeatedly conducted military exercises around Taiwan while simultaneously engaging in information manipulation and cyberattacks.
　2. Targets of China's hybrid warfare include not only Taiwan but also its partner countries─such as Japan, the United States, Australia, and the EU─aiming to weaken their ties with Taiwan.
　3. Hybrid warfare often begins before it is even detected, making robust information collection─including by experts─essential, along with a framework to consolidate and analyze such information. This challenge cannot be addressed by a single country alone, nor solely by governments. There is a need for an institution such as a regional center in Asia dedicated to countering hybrid warfare.
　4. Analysis of hybrid warfare case databases shows an increasing trend in cyberattacks and disinformation. Recent development is the use of generative AI to conduct these operations, making countermeasures against AI-enabled hybrid warfare an urgent challenge.
　5. China has already been conducting information manipulation designed to exploit Taiwan's two-party divide and amplify strong emotions such as anger and fear. Such tactics include provoking anger toward the Taiwanese government and spreading fear that China may initiate war.
　6. Even in geographically distant Australia, China's hybrid warfare is being observed, including the spread of narratives through local media outlets that publish in minority languages such as Chinese. Such activity intensifies around major domestic political events.
　7. Coordinating the information ecosystem─including traditional media (newspapers, TV), online information, and social media─is essential.
Actors such as China and Russia conduct information warfare aimed at undermining trust in governments and dividing societies across vast information spaces. To defend democracy, governments, local authorities, media, IT platforms, and think tanks must cooperate to fact-check and disseminate accurate information.