Minister, thank you very much for joining us today. It’s been a pleasure to talk to you.
Minister, is there a particular Star Trek character, for example Spock, that you have found personally inspirational?
Do you think there’s a lesson from Star Trek for Taiwan?
From your personal point of view, you know Star Trek, you know it’s seen as this utopian society, something was very ahead of its time when it came out in the 1960s, certain in terms of things like interracial relationships and stuff.
I have just one question, which is a slightly lighter question. I know that sometimes in your interviews you like to use the Vulcan expression, “live long and prosper.”
Minister, I think we’re almost at our time limit, I have just…
What are the areas that still sort of concern you about democracy in Taiwan, and sort of what areas do you think you personally in your role still need to improve upon?
All right. when you are attending the democracy summit next week, when you’re talking about China’s – sorry, Taiwan’s – story, but about also disinformation that comes from China, what do you really want the world to know about the situation that you’re facing here, and what lessons do you ...
Does it frustrate to you personally, that if you look at international media coverage of China, it’s often – especially at the moment with the pressure that Taiwan is facing – that so many of the stories from Taiwan and about Taiwan are ultimately stories about China?
Yes, exactly, it was in the neolithic period that Taiwan broke away from China. do you think that in the international discourse around Taiwan, there’s too much focus about trying to connect Taiwan to China? And that means that Taiwan’s own achievements, its own story, is more difficult for the ...
I remember in 2019 you gave a very witty response to a German reporter when you were asked about when did you know about Taiwan…
Thank you, Minister, that’s a very interesting point. One of the sort of comments that you’re very famous for, you have a very dry wit, like you talked about using humor to counter some of rumor, yes, using humor to counter rumor.
Do you think that there should be more regulation of social media, especially in the case of China really, to prevent them from abusing these tools?
We saw last week, for example, 胡锡进, the editor of the global times was busy attacking President Tsai on Twitter for meeting the Baltic lawmakers.
But China is becoming increasingly good at using these these platforms, which are of course ironically banned in China themselves, to sort of spread its message around the world.
A lot of this in Taiwan, obviously, is where it’s a very free society here; we’re a democracy with freedom of speech. People are very passionate users of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
How do you tackle this? I mean, what is your overriding strategy for tackling this and do you believe that you’re winning the war against China?
We obviously exist in a time of extreme disinformation on the Internet. The Taiwanese government complains frequently about disinformation that spreads in Taiwan and a lot of it they say comes from China.
Okay. Now, Minister, one of the the things that you are most well known for in Taiwan is about participatory democracy, about radical transparency and openness.
Are you actually going to Washington for the summit or will you be participating virtually?
So you’re basically saying that China really should democratize if it wants to be invited to summits like this?
I mean, you know there is constant pressure from China and especially the fact that they are so angry that you are going to be participating, that the Taiwan government has been invited to the democracy summit?
As you know, the Chinese government is very angry that that Taiwan has been invited to participate. What’s your reaction to that?
Obviously, there’s a lot of international attention on Taiwan at the moment, because of the increased pressure that China is putting on Taiwan, whether it’s military or diplomatic or political.
If I could go straight into the interview… Next week, you will be representing Taiwan at President Biden’s Democracy Summit along with Ambassador Bí-khîm Hsiao. Could you give us a flavor perhaps of what we’re going to say at that summit and explain to us why you think it’s so ...
You’re one of the most sort of prominent supporters and proponents of Taiwan on the international stage, so we thank you for joining us today.
Minister Tang is a self-described civic hacker. She joined the government in 2016 at the age of 35 and I believe — please correct me if I’m wrong — you are the second youngest ever appointee to the cabinet in Taiwan.
We are very happy today to have Minister Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Digital Minister, joining us for Reuters NEXT.
Good afternoon from Taipei, I am Ben Blanchard, I’m the Reuters Taiwan bureau chief.
