Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) yesterday presented his plan to increase the value of Taiwan’s digital market economy to more than NT$1 trillion (US$30.98 billion) within two years.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs’ role is to encourage profit, and as such, its policies should be geared toward assisting with industrial growth, Huang said in an interview with the Chinese-language Central News Agency.
With a global focus on the digital economy, Taiwan should play to its strengths, which would be industries related to artificial intelligence (AI), he said, adding that they remain his priority.
Photo: CNA
Huang said he has three main policies, the first of which is fostering AI “eco-parks” as government measures to develop a digital economy.
He has discussed with National Development Council Director-General Paul Liu (劉鏡清) what incentives would attract foreign and local AI companies to invest in such parks, Huang said.
While the policy is still under discussion, the goal is to have one eco-park in the south and one in the north of the nation, he said, adding that the ministry considers this a vital policy point and hopes to complete all planning by the end of the year.
The ministry is encouraging the Taiwanese information security industry to seek opportunities abroad, Huang said.
Taiwan’s strengths lie in combining software and hardware in one cohesive product, for example, possibly by integrating information security with the Internet of Things, which would help create a digitally secure cloud service that users feel more secure using, he said.
“Software is everything in the future,” Huang said, adding that Taiwan would acquire significant business if it could create packaged solutions applicable to the agricultural, medical and manufacturing sectors.
The second policy is to prevent scamming by having the ministry create a Web site that identifies whether a number belongs to scammers, he said.
The third is to build up information security resilience, Huang said.
He has been sent proposals to amend the Cybersecurity Management Act (資通安全法), which would empower the ministry’s Administration for Cyber Security to inspect the level of information security at government offices, Huang said.
Backing up information to the cloud should be encouraged, and encryption technology, including quantum encoding, should be further researched and utilized, Huang said.
The ministry hopes to popularize the concept of “zero trust” and the use of multifactor authentication technologies, which would significantly deter hackers from accessing internal networks even if a password is leaked, he said.
Asked about the US demanding that ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) divest TikTok’s US assets or face a ban, Huang said that Taiwan would not take the lead on implementing similar policies, but would continue to monitor developments.
However, he said he “hoped it would come to fruition,” as Taiwan could link to TikTok’s US servers.
FREEDOM SEEKER? While the intruder, identified as an ex-Chinese navy captain, looked different from previous ‘defectors,’ it could be China testing Taiwan’s limits, an official said Taiwan has stepped up national security measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, after a former Chinese navy captain was arrested for illegally entering the nation on a motorboat. “National security cannot be neglected for a minute,” he said, adding that security units had been instructed to “immediately strengthen protective measures.” Coast guard personnel arrested the man, surnamed Ruan (阮), on Sunday after his boat collided with other vessels at a ferry terminal on the Tamsui River (淡水河) in the north. Before that, he reportedly sailed the vessel into a harbor near the mouth of the river. Ruan is a retired member of
‘SAFER TAIWAN’: The president told ‘Time’ magazine that the new government under his administration ‘is willing to assist China and advance peace and prosperity’ A prosperous Taiwan can bring about progress in China, and Taipei seeks peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait, President William Lai (賴清德) told Time magazine in an exclusive interview published yesterday, his first since becoming president. Taiwan wishes for a stable and prosperous China, as it would help maintain peace and stability in the region, he said. “I have always believed that a stable China leads to a safer Taiwan. A prosperous Taiwan can also bring about progress in China,” he was quoted as saying, while asked if China’s problematic economy could be an opportunity for further engagement across strait.
HU GE NEWS: The actor visited Taipei and was on the same flight as an official Shanghai delegation, leading to accusations Taipei City was doing ‘united front’ work Taiwan is open to healthy interactions with China, but Beijing should not engage in “united front” campaigns, a Cabinet official said yesterday following a report that China is paying influencers to produce content it approves of. YouTuber Potter King (波特王) said that the Chinese government has been paying Taiwanese content creators to travel to China and produce videos favorable to Beijing. Cabinet spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said that the government welcomes healthy and sustainable interactions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, but China should not use “united front” tactics in the culture and entertainment sphere to target young Taiwanese. Potter King
FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT: While media have linked the vessel’s presence in a US harbor to RIMPAC, authorities said that it was engaged in a patrol in the Pacific Ocean The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Chiayi-class CG 5002 Hsinchu (新竹) was anchoring in Honolulu in connection to an international fishery rules enforcement operation, CGA Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) told lawmakers yesterday. Hsieh made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Jen (黃仁) asked why the vessel was in Hawaiian waters. MarineTraffic, an online ship tracker, showed that the Hsinchu departed the Port of Taipei almost two weeks ago and entered Honolulu Harbor on Tuesday. The vessel’s presence in a US harbor ahead of the Rim