So, I mean, one of the major satellite providers that people have talked about in the context of conflicts these days or other crises is Starlink, run by Elon Musk. the Taiwanese foreign ministry criticized comments by Elon that seemed to repeat a Chinese talking point about Taiwan being an ...

Okay, yeah. So maybe you can talk a little bit more about that and the status of that project.

Yeah, earthquakes. Exactly. So I guess that was very early into the process when you started talking about this in summer of 2022. Where do things stand now? I understand that there’s an agreement with the UK company.

Okay, I see. Great. So switching gears a bit, to get to what, something you talked about last year was the possibility of low-Earth orbit satellites being used by Taiwan in the event of some sort of crisis, whether it’s of a geopolitical nature or it’s a natural disaster.

Sorry, what agrees with your assessment?

Okay. Should Americans be worried about PRC apps and software?

The clarification was new, though?

Oh, wow.

But there were recent actions taken, right? To restrict use of government employees.

Oh, for four years?

The Taiwanese government in recent months has taken certain steps to reduce or counter these TikTok outlets, in certain steps, to reduce or counter the use of TikTok…

Okay. So on the sort of disinformation and social media side of things, in the US we’ve had a very vigorous debate about TikTok and the way in which it could be used as a vector for pro-Beijing disinformation.

Sure. But you expect that it will be used?

So – but you haven’t seen it in the electoral context yet?

And you’re seeing that already being used in Taiwan?

Wow, so you’re talking about real news that is manipulated using deep fakes and other–

Okay. All right. So back to the election disinformation piece. What are some of the biggest narratives that you’re seeing out there? What are the most striking ones?

Okay. So, I mean, if you were to put it in, like, very plain English, you know, what Taiwan would do with Meta and Google, how would you describe this initiative?

Wow, so you’re very optimistic that Taiwan will be able to partner with these companies.

This is very recent.

Okay, so you said Meta in Google, and that’s just from conversations you had today.

Okay. So where does this fit in with Taiwan’s exclusion from international institutions? The UN is the biggest one. That’s sort of the focus of Taiwan’s diplomacy this week. Will it be difficult for you to make progress on that agenda, given the fact that Taiwanese nationals aren’t even allowed ...

At Concordia about AI and how Taiwan can contribute to how the world thinks about AI. But maybe you can walk me through the top line of what you’re looking at and talking about with other leaders this week.

What are your main objectives? I mean, you gave this address…

So, yeah, why don’t we just start with your agenda here in New York this week.

It’s very exciting. Thank you very much.

I bet you love that.

One last question. What’s an e-resident? I noticed that you were made an e-resident of Lithuania of all places.

Because there’s just a serendipitous context. Context is everything.

So, this… If it was going to happen anywhere, it was going to happen here, you’re saying?

But you have interaction with the public. How do Taiwanese, especially older Taiwanese, relate to your post-gender status?

I know that you’re busy and we’ve almost run out of time, so I would like to ask you about your notoriety now. You are the only trans government minister in Asia. How was your gender identity an issue during the election?

And maybe it’s a longer game than just an assault, as we’ve seen in the case of Ukraine, President Putin hoped that story would be over in three or four days. Here we are, a year and a bit later, and it’s still ongoing. Is that what you think might ...

What if China decided to send missiles in, take out your essential infrastructure, blockade, country runs out of essential things pretty quickly and is forced to capitulate?

What if there’s a military attack?

Well, if China decides it wants Taiwan, with all its resources, huge military and a lot of political will, it seems to me that you’re really vulnerable.

But is it enough to protect you? The engagement and admiration of people around the world and the satisfaction of your own citizens is powerful, but not powerful enough.

So, are you afraid that China is going to take back Taiwan and wipe out all this that you’ve been working for?

It strikes me that China’s approach to controlling cyberspace for its citizens couldn’t be further from what you’re trying to achieve here. How frightened are you that all this is going to get taken away?

So, take that down to the level of the elderly people I met yesterday, learning that what they saw on their screen was not necessarily the truth.

Okay.

We were at a workshop yesterday, trying to teach elderly people who have less experience in these things not to trust if they get a message… to think twice about either fact-checking it or not putting in their data blindly and so on. These are not people who default to ...

This is all very well to have this context of transparency and a fine effort to make solid information available, but people have to want to look for it, and a lot of people don’t. What do you do about that? Can you do anything about that?

What about the attacks that are straight… like disinformation or misinformation, that go straight to individuals?

But they haven’t stopped attacking.

Wow. So that… But that’s a big job. I assume that in the last round of Chinese exercises following President Tsai’s visit to the States, you didn’t have a similar onslaught of Chinese cyberattack, or did you?

So that must have shocked you and worried you. How are you responding?

But nevertheless, China keeps trying. What is the most… What aspect of Chinese actions in cyberspace, particularly directed against Taiwan, worry you the most?

Yes, exactly. How does your radical transparency make you more vulnerable to China?

Yes, forget that. Let me ask that again.