Taiwan is looking at Ukraine’s ways of communicating its message to the outside world at a time of conflict, by making use of tools such as satellites and deploying humor, Minister of Digital Development Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said yesterday.
Chinese blockade drills around Taiwan last month, following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have heightened concerns in the nation about the prospect of an attack by its larger neighbor.
“We look at the experience of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. We found that the whole world can know what is happening there in real time,” Tang said.
Photo: CNA
Ukraine had effectively conveyed its message to the world, Tang said, adding that keeping up high-quality communication in real time was critical to its effort.
“It’s not only for our own people, but also for the people who care about us all over the world, so that we can enlist the assistance of international friends,” Tang said.
Among Tang’s plans to preserve communications if China attacks are a NT$550 million (US$17.7 million) satellite trial program to ensure Internet services across Taiwan.
The goal was to maintain social stability and keep Taiwan’s command systems running by “instantly” switching to alternative forms of communication, such as satellites in middle and lower orbit, she said.
Several Taiwanese companies are in talks with international satellite service providers, seeking partnerships after such service is legalized in Taiwan, she added, but gave no details.
Ukraine has been using SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service.
Tang helped craft Taiwan’s public messaging for the COVID-19 pandemic, using memes and humor to fight disinformation, much of which the government accused China of spreading, although Beijing denied it.
“We say very publicly that our playbook is ‘humor over rumor,’” she said.
“As we have seen with the Ukrainian example, there are also people who use ideas of even comedy, but certainly Internet memes, to spread a message that rallies the people,” Tang said.
A prolific Twitter user with more than 250,000 followers, Tang said she was not bothered by online attacks, which can include accusations that she is a “separatist.”
Chinese state media make heavy use of Twitter and other Western social media platforms, even though they are banned in China.
Asked about China using social media in its messaging campaign against Taiwan in case of a war, Tang said that was already happening.
“From my point of view it’s my daily life,” she said. “Already, the kind of propaganda as you call it, the kind of narratives going on on Twitter, that’s already what we face daily.”
Two executives of drone supplier Jiin Ming Industry Co (錦明實業) have been detained and held incommunicado over the company's alleged use of prohibited China-made chips and camera lenses in drones supplied under recent military contracts, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors' Office said today. In a statement, prosecutors said they raided the offices of Jiin Ming — headquartered in Taoyuan — as well as those of its subsidiaries and its suppliers on Thursday last week. The raids followed a report that the company had breached its procurement contracts by putting the prohibited components into drones delivered to the military. During the raids, prosecutors summoned
The government would continue monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China and could enhance existing quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said rumors were circulating that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease from spreading to Taiwan, given the frequent exchanges between Taiwan and China, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive Yuan
DEFENSE PROCUREMENT: Taiwan could become the largest operator of V-BAT drones outside the US once they are delivered, the Ministry of National Defense said The navy and the coast guard are acquiring 292 units of MQ-35A V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) surveillance drones manufactured by US-based defense technology company Shield AI, making Taiwan one of the largest buyers of the drone. The Coast Guard Administration budgeted NT$1.2 billion (US$37.1 million) to buy 12 drones, which have been delivered, Shield AI said in a report on Oct 13. The navy is planning to spend NT$36 billion under a four-year program code-named Project Yuan Xiao (遠鴞) to acquire 280 V-BAT drones, the Ministry of National Defense’s fiscal 2027 report showed. The combined procurement is expected
South Korean boy band BigBang drew 120,000 fans to three concerts at Taipei Dome from Friday through yesterday, as the band thanked them for their support over their 20-year career. The Taipei Dome concerts were part of BigBang's "2026-2027 World Tour XX: Cosmos." Friday's concert was BigBang's first performance in Taiwan in 11 years. During the encore, group leader G-Dragon (GD) shouted "I love you" in Chinese and said he was especially happy to perform in Taiwan with bandmates Taeyang and Daesung. "Taipei, I'm very grateful to you all," GD said in Chinese, asking fans to wait for the band's return. Daesung thanked
RSS