Taiwan is an excellent partner for Australia on cybersecurity issues, Australian Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology Brendan Dowling said on Monday.
Dowling made the remarks during the Sydney Dialogue, an annual policy summit hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
This year, a Taiwanese delegation led by National Security Council adviser Lee Yuh-jye (李育杰) attended the event focusing on cybersecurity and emerging technology issues.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The summit featured industry experts, government officials and academics from 30 countries — including Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Tonga, the UK and the US. Discussions centered on topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) development, hybrid threat management, digital infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region, economic resilience, digital innovation, democracy and disinformation.
As part of a session on designing technology for democracy, Lee and Dowling had an in-depth conversation on Taiwan’s position in AI supply chains and how to use technology to protect democracies from threats such as disinformation.
Dowling called Taiwan an excellent partner for Australia when it comes to cybersecurity issues due to its democracy, as well as its insistence that “cybersecurity is national security” amid a tense geopolitical environment.
Lee said that although The Economist has called Taiwan the “most dangerous place on Earth,” the country’s democracy has become more resilient in the face of wide-ranging threats, from natural disasters to incessant cyberattacks.
He also discussed how Taiwan’s tech industry prioritizes human rights in real-world applications, such as how social distancing apps deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic sought to protect user privacy.
Taiwan is also a vital link in AI, with key industry players such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Quanta Computer Inc, he said, adding that “Taiwan” cannot be spelled without “AI.”
Every country needs its own AI infrastructure, and cannot rely on others, Lee said, citing ChatGPT’s use of simplified Chinese characters and Baidu’s Ernie Bot as potential national security risks to Taiwan.
China could use AI programs to better understand Taiwan or leverage algorithms to influence Taiwanese society, he said.
Taiwan has developed its own large-scale language model, the Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine, he said.
To achieve AI sovereignty, Taiwan would continue to promote educational and technological initiatives, increasing its democratic resilience, he said.
Representative to Australia Douglas Hsu (徐佑典), Ministry of Digital Affairs Deputy Director for Cyber Security Cheng Shin-ming (鄭欣明), National Institute of Cyber Security Vice President Lin Ying-dar (林盈達) and Director of Cybersecurity Technology at the Institute for Information Industry Mattel Hsu (許建榮) also attended.
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