Okay, a pluralist.

So, you really are non-binary.

Is that a joke?

Nobody?

Really? Nothing?

Interesting. As we talk about disinformation, or indeed cyber-attacks, you have used the phrase ‘humor over rumor.’ Talk me through that.

And is that short numbers, the 111 that you talk about, is that cyber-attack-proof?

So, what do you do as Minister for Digital Affairs to try and protect Taiwan, and I suppose also raise awareness for those people?

So, how do you do that? Because I’m just thinking of some of the young people I met that were really thinking about preparing for the first time, okay? And they were trying to become more aware of what to look out for, what might be disinformation, and what might ...

I went to some civil defense classes, and at one of them, they talked about the possibility of a cyber-attack when it came to the threat from China being much more likely than a missile attack, for example. And I was wondering, are you thinking about that? In what way, ...

I’ve been in Taiwan a few days now, actually, and I might just jump into something that I was doing on the first days that I was thinking about on my way here to you.

[laughter] I don’t think I’ve had that as an introduction before. So, thank you, and great to have you here with us.

Thanks.

Yeah, I think that’s it for me. We’ve covered a lot of ground here. I really appreciate your taking the time, Minister, during a very busy week.

Do you have a broader message to an American audience about what Taiwan is doing to fight disinformation, and deal with the disruptive effects of AI? What are you telling people, leaders on the sidelines of the UN this week? What’s the big takeaway for them?

Yeah, it’ll keep you busy. Great. All right. Yeah, I’m just trying to think of anything else that we need to cover here. I mean, I think we’ve covered a lot of things.

Yeah. Okay. And do you think that there will be a big spike leading up to the election?

Since they used Pelosi’s visit as a pretext?

Of course, yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, that’s pretty significant progress. Okay. Great. And then I’m just curious if there have been any new disinformation narratives that you’ve seen over the past week that have come up with the massive flight of PLA jets into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. Has that come with any new ...

Really? Wow. So it’ll cover all of Taiwan, probably?

Okay, so where are you guys now?

So the goal is 700?

What is your assessment of the potential collaboration with Starlink? Has moda ruled that out? Where do you stand on that? Have you spoken to Starlink? Where do you stand on that from having spoken to Starlink?

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.