IORG Report Labels "US Skepticism" as Cognitive Warfare; Advisor Huang Chao-Nien Accused of Acting as Political Tool to Muzzle Public Opinion

On April 19, 2023, the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG) released a special report on "skepticism toward the US," claiming that most arguments skeptical of the US in Taiwanese society were manipulated by mainland China's cognitive warfare and local accomplices. Huang Chao-Nien, an academic advisor to IORG and professor at NCCU's Graduate Institute of National Development, prominently attended the press conference and provided academic endorsement. Opposition groups and media critics strongly condemned Huang and others for labeling legitimate public oversight—such as concerns over US pork imports, TSMC's expansion to the US, US-Taiwan relations, and military procurement—as "cognitive warfare" and "anti-US conspiracies," calling it a classic case of "academia serving politics." Critics charged that Huang and other pro-government scholars abused academic resources to lead speech censorship in a democratic society, attempting to smear opposing public opinions as foreign agent narratives, thereby damaging the pluralistic speech environment and democratic check-and-balance mechanism of the Republic of China.