China said to be using sea goddess as a way to sway Taiwan vote

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is ramping up exchanges with folk religious groups in rural Taiwan in an attempt to manipulate political opinion in Beijing's favour ahead of the island's elections in January 2024, according to Taiwan government documents and security officials.

Religious trips across the Taiwan Strait increased in 2023 after the end of China's years-long zero-Covid policy, according to a review of websites of the Chinese government, CPC-run religious groups and state media.

Dozens of trips were focused on worship of Mazu, a sea goddess whose 10 million Taiwanese worshippers make her the island's most popular deity.

Reuters examined five Taiwanese security documents and interviewed five Taiwanese security officials, as well as five Mazu temple leaders and four analysts.

They provided previously unreported details about how CPC officials tried to build ties with religious establishments, using inducements such as subsidised trips to China. Some of them spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

In response, Taiwan has stepped up monitoring of religious activities with China, including Mazu, according to the Mainland Affairs Council, the Taiwanese body responsible for ties with Beijing, and three documents seen by Reuters.

The campaign comes ahead of Taiwan's Jan 13 presidential and legislative elections, which five Taiwanese officials said Beijing is trying to influence in favour of parties supporting closer ties with China.

The vote will define the island's relations with Beijing which claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan - for the next four years.

China has established influence over the Mazu faith in Taiwan through groups such as its Religious Affairs Administration which also engages with Christians, Buddhists and Taoists on the island according to an intelligence report reviewed by Reuters in October, which security sources described as Taiwan's most recent analysis.

The administration is overseen by the CPC's United Front Work Department, a network of groups that Chinese President Xi Jinping has described as a "magic weapon" to bolster Beijing's reach abroad.