Bye.

Thank you very much. So have a nice day.

Yeah, yeah, of course. I think in the next two to three weeks, I guess so. But I’ll keep you informed, of course. And I will show you and share with you the article. I will write that.

Not exactly.

Okay, okay. Minister Tang, that would be all of my questions. Thank you very, very much for talking to me. It was very interesting. And thank you so much for having the time to talk to me. And I hope we see you soon and talk soon again. And I ...

And after your, I don’t know if it’s after your political career, do you have some other plans? I think you have a lot of prospects.

Okay, and would be a chance that you would do it again for the next term?

Yes. My last question would be, we already talked about the elections in January. Is there a chance that you will be nominated again for digital minister or do you have some other plans after that?

Yeah, I think it’s very funny because here in Europe we just started the discussion how do we cope with AI, with Chat GPT and children who copy-paste their homework and so, Taiwan is there more forward.

And this is possible in Taiwan that they can… [be] connected more to the civic participation before 18?

Okay. And, yeah, a question because I’m also German and we are now here in the middle of Europe. You spent some years in Saarbrücken. And can you talk a bit, when was it? And did it like… yeah, what is your impression of it now all these years after?

And it also is connected to democracy, I guess, so this trust. And you said because of social media, do you use social media yourself for personal purpose or are you more afraid of using it because of the harm it could take?

Oh, okay. And what fascinated you about the World Wide Web at such a young age? I know when I was young, the internet was mostly for some play and Google. And what was the thought behind it that you think was so fascinating about the Internet?

Okay.

15, okay. That’s a very young age. Did the people who worked together were older and were they surprised?

So, you started your company when you were 14, is that right then?

Can you talk a bit about what shaped your life path, what shaped your life decisions to be such connected with the world wide web?

And something a bit more personal, there’s hardly no article about you which doesn’t tell about your extraordinary life story. You taught yourself programming when you were eight, you dropped out of school when you were 14 because you wanted to focus on the research in the internet, and you ...

OK. And Taiwan, there are currently just 12 countries in the world that recognize Taiwan as a country itself. How can digitalization improve the relations with other countries and perhaps improve the recognition of Taiwan as a country for itself?

OK. So, you don’t want to be very, very clear, but…

OK. Would you say Taiwan is already in a cyber war with the mainland?

Mm-hmm. There was, just last week, I think, yeah, it was Elon Musk who said that he prevented a Ukrainian attack on the Russian fleet. He said he did not agree the request because SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war. And how do you see ...

Mm-hmm. You also helped Ukraine, and I think in the first days of the attack, is there still a connection to Ukraine? Do you help them build up the digital resilience?

There’s also the Kuma Academy in Taiwan. I visited last year, and November, and yeah, the people learn how to be prepared for such an attack. How are they going to be prepared for such an attack in the digital way? Is there something they can learn for this moment ...

Okay. And we’ve seen this also in the Ukraine. Since years before the attack on the whole country, Russia launched a lot of cyber-attacks, especially on the infrastructure. There were some blackouts in 2014. And what is your way to shield Taiwan against such an attack from Mainland?

Mm-hmm. OK. And when Nancy Pelosi visited in August last year, there were also very heavily cyber-attacks on Taiwan. On the screens of 7-Eleven, the supermarket chain, you could read, War Monger Pelosi Get Out of Taiwan. How hard was it for you to shield Taiwan against the foreign cyber-attacks?

OK. And they always say Taiwan is the country with the most cyber-attacks. Is it true? Do you have some relations to that, to other countries?

So, can you say, is China flooding, or is the mainland China flooding Taiwan with…

OK, OK. And we have seen in 2016, there were some Russian disinformation campaigns that influenced the US elections and the US election campaign. There will be a presidential election in January in Taiwan, too. And do you expect such disinformation campaigns from Beijing also? And how do you shield ...

And in Europe, there are a lot of people who are very sceptic about AI. So, how about the Taiwanese people? Are they very into digitalization? And is it also because of… It’s because of this very young democracy, which has to shield itself against the mainland China?

OK. So, this is also a step into artificial intelligence. And Time listed you as one of the most influential persons in artificial intelligence. It’s crucial because there are not a lot of politicians in the list of 100, and no minister at all. I think there’s a lot of ...

There’s also, at school, the students learn how to fact-check, you said. And how important is this for such a young democracy like Taiwan that they have to fact-check and have this digital media competence?

Can you give me an example for Taiwan? What did you change in the years when you are now minister for citizen participation?

When Western countries look at Taiwan, we see you’re very forward in digitalization, and it’s not only because of the transparency, but also because of citizen participation.

Is there something else of the radical transparency that you, for example, in governance, can use to show the people what you do and how you work?

And my first question would be, what is your thought behind this radical transparency?

Yes, yes. And it’s a kind of, yeah, something, it’s part of your political understanding that you record everything, that you transcribe it, upload it.

Yeah, yeah. That would be also my first question, because normally when I have an interview, I ask my interview partner if I can record this to be safe of all the translations. And in your case, I don’t have to do this.

Thank you, Minister Tang. Do you hear me well and see me well?