September 15, 2025

Information Cutoff: September 11, 2025

Matthew Sperzel, Daniel Shats, Alison O’Neil, Karina Wugang, and Alfred Han of the Institute for the Study of War;

Alexis Turek, Yeji Chung, and Alex Chou of the American Enterprise Institute

A Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and Ministry of Culture (MOC) investigation into Taiwanese celebrities’ possible coordination with the PRC to spread propaganda discovered that several of the investigation’s subjects hold PRC citizenship. The PRC has increasingly exploited Taiwanese celebrities in recent years to promote content that supports PRC narratives and information operations. These information operations are aimed at eroding the sense of a Taiwanese national identity and affirming the PRC’s right to control Taiwan. The Mainland Affairs Council launched investigations into 23 celebrities in May 2025 due to their suspected collusion with the PRC at a time when the PLA was conducting a major exercise around Taiwan.

CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping excluded a mention of “denuclearization” in his meeting with Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) General Secretary Kim Jong Un on September 4, suggesting that the PRC may be softening its opposition to the North Korean nuclear arsenal. Kim met with Xi after attending the PRC military parade for Victory over Japan (V-J) Day in Beijing on September 3. South Korea’s Ministry of Unification stated on September 5 that it hopes PRC–North Korea relations will develop in a way that contributes to Korean Peninsula denuclearization. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration has consistently urged North Korea to denuclearize and engage in inter-Korean dialogue. President Lee previously proposed a three-step denuclearization roadmap for the Korean Peninsula, signaling a conciliatory gesture toward the North. US President Donald Trump has likewise supported North Korea’s denuclearization.

The PRC criticized the military transits of a Canadian and Australian warship through the Taiwan Strait with standard rhetoric that such actions are “provocative.” Both ships had previously participated in exercises with the Philippines. Canadian Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec and Australian Hobart-class guided-missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait on September 6. This is the first Australian Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) and second Canadian FONOP—it is Canada’s seventh FONOP in the Taiwan Strait since publishing its Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022. The PRC Eastern Theater Command (ETC) issued a standard condemnation of the transit and stated that they dispatched naval and air forces to monitor the situation. The HMCS Ville de Québec and HMAS Brisbane participated in Exercise ALON from August 15 to 29 and the September 2 to 3 Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA) around Scarborough Shoal, both hosted by the Philippines.

• Taiwan: Taiwanese authorities have launched investigations into Taiwanese celebrities suspected of cooperating with the PRC to disseminate propaganda and disinformation. The PRC has increasingly exploited such celebrities for information operations.

• North Korea: The PRC excluded any mention of “denuclearization” in readouts of the meeting between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, suggesting that the PRC is softening its opposition to the North Korean nuclear arsenal.

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