On Thursday and Friday last week, the Digital Innovation Forum, hosted by the APEC Business Advisory Council, took place at the Taipei International Convention Center.
Invited speakers included Taiwanese and overseas experts who have made innovative contributions to the field of network applications.
One speaker was former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves. As president, Ilves led Estonia’s efforts to develop an open government and find ways to overcome obstacles in the nation’s difficult geopolitical environment.
Ilves’ experiences could prove beneficial for Taiwan.
Estonia’s population is only 1.32 million. The nation regained its independence when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. Since then, Estonians have made good use of their late-developing advantage in technology.
During Ilves’ 10 years in office, he led Estonia’s transformation into a global model of digital governance. Located on the doorstep of a powerful neighbor, Estonia has been willing to defend and empower itself, leveraging technology to develop innovative businesses and quickly growing its economy to become a developed nation.
Taiwan has a similar geographical position to Estonia’s: They both have unfriendly, powerful nations as neighbors. Taiwan’s existing foundation in information and communications technology makes it possible to achieve the same kind of industrial development. In the past few years, Taiwan has also oriented itself toward having an open government, although its achievements have been few.
Last week’s forum provided an opportunity to learn from other nations’ experiences, but are we in Taiwan willing, at a national level, to apply Estonia’s experience of using technology to govern a reborn nation?
Having spent a decade at the helm of Estonia’s reforms, Ilves is the best person to advise us on this.
Taiwan could learn from Estonia’s experience in developing an “e-residency” plan.
Launched in 2014 under Ilves’ leadership, the plan welcomes individuals and companies to become non-permanent residents of Estonia. The nation gains access to simple professional assistance, while the residents identify with Estonia in a conceptual way, without having any obligations.
Thus far, about 40,000 individuals and 5,000 companies have become “e-residents” of Estonia, including a number of world-famous experts. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became an “e-resident” of Estonia in 2015.
This kind of identity as a virtual resident fits well with the features of the Internet world. People who meet online and find that they get on well can form communities where they exchange views and gradually develop into civic forces — and what is true for individuals also applies to nations.
Small nations that are overlooked by the world’s mainstream media can seek recognition that transcends national boundaries. Joining traditional international organizations under a national title is no longer the only way for nations to gain influence. In the age of the Internet, using broader and more flexible definitions of sovereignty and citizenship can garner recognition in the international community. The “e-residency” concept could be an especially valuable lesson for Taiwan to learn.
Estonia’s system of governance is not only significant because of its level of implementation, but also for its historical significance. Compared with dictatorial or oligarchic societies, the Internet brings liberation and autonomy, as well as sharing and cooperation.
Taiwan’s freedom and democracy are precisely the fertile ground that nurtures a networked society.
Taiwanese non-governmental organizations invited knowledgeable people from around the world to visit Taiwan. In doing so, the nation demonstrated how the Internet can nuture creativity.
Meanwhile, China is taking its use of the Internet to the opposite extreme.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government is using the far-reaching capabilities of the Internet and digital technology to maintain law and order, and to keep everyone under control.
Overseas, Beijing is using digital networking to exert sharp power, sharpen its trade weapons and disrupt the world order. This kind of closed and destructive networked society based on a monolithic value system goes against human nature and is a dead end.
Taiwan’s and China’s choices about how to apply technology, and their different attitudes toward a digital society, can be compared with Estonia’s story of building a networked nation.
The forum has shown Taiwan some options for repositioning itself in the Internet world.
Hochen Tan is a retired civil servant.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Since COVID-19 broke out in Taiwan, there has been a fair amount of news regarding discrimination and “witch hunts” against medical personnel, people under self-quarantine and other targets, such as the students of a school where an infection was discovered. Quarantine breakers are almost certainly on the loose and it is only natural for people to be vigilant. One in Chiayi was found by accident at a traffic stop because his helmet was not fastened. However, those who follow the rules by quarantining themselves should be encouraged to keep up the good work in a difficult situation, instead of being
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator-at-large Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) has said that there is a huge difference between Chinese military aircraft circling Taiwan along the edges of its airspace and invading Taiwan’s airspace. He also said that whether it is US or Chinese aircraft flying along or encircling Taiwan’s airspace, there is no legal basis to say that such actions imply a clear provocation of Taiwan, and asked the Ministry of National Defense not to mislead the public. People who hear this might think that it is not a very Taiwanese thing to say. US military activity in the vicinity of Taiwan
Burger King Taiwan on Wednesday last week posted an update on Facebook advertising a new “Wuhan pneumonia” (武漢肺炎) home delivery meal, catering to customers hankering for a Whopper, but who wished to avoid visiting one of its outlets. “Wuhan pneumonia” is the term commonly used in Taiwan to describe COVID-19. Beijing has been waging an extensive propaganda campaign against the use of the words “Wuhan” or “China” in reference to the novel coronavirus, calling it racist and discriminatory. Meanwhile, Chinese officials have claimed that the coronavirus might have originated in the US. The intention is obvious: to distract attention from the Chinese Communist
Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force Shaanxi KJ-500 airborne early-warning aircraft and Shenyang J-11 fighters on March 16 conducted a nighttime exercise in the waters southwest of Taiwan and, in doing so, came close to the nation’s air defense identification zone. Three days later, the PLA Navy’s fleet for Gulf of Aden escort mission sailed north in the Pacific off Taiwan’s east coast via the Miyako Strait on its way home. Meanwhile, the US carried out freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and assembled the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group with the Expeditionary Strike Group to conduct
RSS