Thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

When you are allowed to come to Japan, whenever that may be, we do hope you come and have a drink with us in the bar and tell some more of your stories.

That brings us to the end of the hour. Thank you very much for your time, Audrey. Much appreciated. We’re going to send you, by email, a one-year honorary membership to the FCCJ.

Thank you. We have another question here form Izawa-san at NTV. What is your message to Japan, given that it seems now to be in the midst of a second wave of the COVID-19 virus with increasing numbers of infections every day?

I’ll go to the next online question. It’s from Rick Weisburd from ELSS. “How can democracies effectively deal with threats that unfold over long periods, despite relatively short cycles of elections, and of course, corporate strategy?”

Good. Do we have any more questions from the room?

What was the biggest challenge in creating such apps, given that, obviously, COVID-19 came very quickly?

Thank you. We have a question here about the mask app. It’s from Riho Izawa at NTV Japan. “What was the most difficult thing regarding creating and using the applications such as the mask map when you were trying to deal with COVID-19 initially in Taiwan?”

Thank you. Another question here from Ilgin at BBC World Turkish. She says, “You’re a civic hacker turned government minister. Where does your heart lie, and do you miss your earlier life as a conservative anarchist?”

Thank you. Another question here from Mishimoto from the “Asahi Shimbun,” a Japanese newspaper. “You’re communicating, obviously now, through the world online. How, to you, does online communication compare with face-to-face communication? What is the advantage of online, and what is the advantage of face-to-face?”

Thank you. We’ve got a question here following up on the Internet of Things. It’s again from Anthony Rowley at the SCMP. “Has 5G made it easier to access the Internet of Things from outside, granting others access to vital control systems?”

OK, understandable as well. George. Got a question from the room now.

Thank you. Following up there with a question from someone called Tom – very simple question – “When do you think China will invade Taiwan?”

Especially Mr. Trump making these claims, but we’ve not seen any proof presented. What would you say about this first, on the first question there?

Thank you. A couple of geopolitical questions have come in online here, too. I’ll probably ask you them both together now. Unfortunately, we don’t have this person’s name for this one. This person asks about hearing about Huawei spying for the Chinese Communist Party.

Thank you. Question over here, please.

Just to follow up quickly there, and then I’ll come to you in one second, please. Would you have any advice for lawmakers and policymakers in Japan on how to improve their digitization process here?

How do these countries compare to each other, and how do they compare to places such as the EU and the US? There’s a lot of concern here in Japan about how Japan has been, in some ways, slow to digitize. Especially, and this has come up with the COVID-19 ...

Thank you. Another question here. It’s also partly something that I want to ask myself is where do you see the East Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan, China, South Korea, on the digitization ladder?

The approaches by Taiwan and South Korea have been rejected because of privacy concerns. What is your answer to that?

Thank you. My next question is from Martin Kölling. He’s a correspondent for Handelsblatt, a German financial paper. He’s saying that, in Germany and Japan, the voluntary apps for tracking have been a failure so far.

OK, thank you. Another question from Slido here. It’s from Kantaro Suzuki, a freelance reporter. He’s asking were there any cyber attacks from China during the recent Taiwanese presidential election? If so, can you tell us how you blocked these attacks?

People at home, if you want to send a question, please use this link. OK? Thank you. Another question has come in on Slido. It’s from Patrick Velter at FAZ. That’s German media. “With the economic quarrel between the US and the People’s Republic of China, do you expect that ...

Thank you. Take another question here online. It’s from Anthony Rowley at the “SCMP.” As I mentioned in my opening remarks, you said in the “Nikkei” interview that allowing Chinese equipment into a country’s infrastructure is like inviting a Trojan horse in. Why do you think this, and how exactly ...

Thank you. Questions from the room? Yes, Nakano-san.

It’s a question sent by email from Peter Elstrom at Bloomberg News. He asks, do you think there’s a justification for governments around the world to tighten controls or ban social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, and are there specific security risks that those apps pose to users?

Thank you. I’m going to open this to the room as well, if there are any questions, so please raise your hands if you have anything, but let me ask one question first.

Yes.

Thank you. Maybe we can go on to the next question from, on your list, from Peele?

Thank you very much. Do you want to start by answering some of the questions that’s been sent so far on Slido?

[laughs]

Over to you.

Anyway, without further ado, I believe Miss Tang’s going to make a short speech. We have a bunch of questions already received online. We’ll also take questions from the room. Just to introduce myself, by the way, I am the moderator. This is Teddy Jimbo. He’s the FCCJ PAC co-chair.

There’s much to discuss. Clearly, China tech is a big issue here. In a recent interview with my colleagues at the Nikkei in Taipei, she said that allowing Chinese equipment into a country’s core telecom infrastructure is like inviting a Trojan horse into the network.

Audrey Tang was invited into President Tsai Ing-wen’s cabinet in 2016 to help boost Taiwan’s digital prowess. She’s gone on to help lead the country’s much-applauded fight against the coronavirus by helping develop apps to spread the distribution of masks and economic stimulus coupons.

It’s Audrey Tang. She’s Taiwan’s Digital Minister, a 39-year-old former hacker with a reported very high IQ, who at the age of 14 co-founded a computer book publisher and developed a search engine. She went on to become a Silicon Valley consultant for the likes of Apple.

Good morning and welcome to the FCCJ. Thank you, those who’ve come to the club and also those watching online. My name’s Andy Sharp. I work at the “Nikkei Asian Review.” Today, we have a very special guest.

Thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

When you are allowed to come to Japan, whenever that may be, we do hope you come and have a drink with us in the bar and tell some more of your stories.

That brings us to the end of the hour. Thank you very much for your time, Audrey. Much appreciated. We’re going to send you, by email, a one-year honorary membership to the FCCJ.

Thank you. We have another question here form Izawa-san at NTV. What is your message to Japan, given that it seems now to be in the midst of a second wave of the COVID-19 virus with increasing numbers of infections every day?

I’ll go to the next online question. It’s from Rick Weisburd from ELSS. “How can democracies effectively deal with threats that unfold over long periods, despite relatively short cycles of elections, and of course, corporate strategy?”

Good. Do we have any more questions from the room?

What was the biggest challenge in creating such apps, given that, obviously, COVID-19 came very quickly?

Thank you. We have a question here about the mask app. It’s from Riho Izawa at NTV Japan. “What was the most difficult thing regarding creating and using the applications such as the mask map when you were trying to deal with COVID-19 initially in Taiwan?”

Thank you. Another question here from Ilgin at BBC World Turkish. She says, “You’re a civic hacker turned government minister. Where does your heart lie, and do you miss your earlier life as a conservative anarchist?”

Thank you. Another question here from Mishimoto from the “Asahi Shimbun,” a Japanese newspaper. “You’re communicating, obviously now, through the world online. How, to you, does online communication compare with face-to-face communication? What is the advantage of online, and what is the advantage of face-to-face?”