The US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence on Tuesday hosted the first Global Emerging Technology Summit, attended virtually by Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and physically by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan delivered speeches in person, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said in a news release yesterday, which included a photograph of Hsiao at the meeting in Washington.
Blinken said that “it’s not enough to highlight the horrors of techno-authoritarianism, to point to what countries like China and Russia are doing, and say that it’s wrong and dangerous,” adding that democracies have to pass the tech test together.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States
“We know China is determined to become the world’s technology leader, and they have a well-resourced and comprehensive plan to achieve those ambitions,” he said. “We must preserve our competitive and comparative advantages.”
“That means building resilient, diverse and secure supply chains for critical technologies. Our proposed investments in semiconductor manufacturing here at home is an important part of that,” he said.
Blinken highlighted the importance of 5G security and trustworthy artificial intelligence, as well as setting technical standards and creating norms for emerging technologies.
“In the coming weeks, the [US] State Department will be releasing its first ever data strategy to help us use data more effectively and more creatively for diplomacy,” he said.
Tang delivered a prerecorded speech on digital democracy during a section on the summit’s agenda titled “Israel and Taiwan Remarks.”
Digital democracy in Taiwan means promoting transparency and making the state transparent to its citizens, Tang said.
However, in a regime dominated by digital authoritarianism, transparency means making citizens transparent to the state, she said.
Taiwan is no stranger to the most unrelenting disinformation campaigns in the world. While the government does not enforce any top-down or lockdown information initiatives, it promotes decentralized approaches to combat an “infodemic,” she said, referring to rapid and far-reaching spread of accurate and inaccurate information.
For example, Tang said that before she joined the Cabinet, she helped set up an open system of communications to prevent disinformation during the 2014 Sunflower movement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government engaged social engineers to develop an online mask map system and a contact tracing system using the 1922 short message service, she said.
Taiwan has a huge amount of high-quality data, a world-class semiconductor industry, smart manufacturing, strong computing power and advanced networking infrastructure, while following a democratic model of governance, Tang said.
The government is also promoting the Digital Nation and Innovative Economic Development Program, also known as Digi+, which encompasses digitalization, innovation, governance and inclusion, in a bid to transform Taiwan into a critical force in the global economy, she said.
Taiwan has the determination and capability to be a reliable partner for the US and the international community of democracies regarding artificial intelligence strategies, for the sake of people’s prosperity, security and welfare, Tang said.
Top officials from other nations — including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana, Japanese Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Shinji Inoue, South Korean Minister of Science and Information Communication Technology Lim Hye-sook — joined the meeting via videoconference or shared pre-recorded speeches, TECRO said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS