A live-broadcast speech on Thursday by Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) at the UN’s annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva, Switzerland, was met with protests by Chinese diplomat Ji Haojun (計顥駿), who accused Tang of advocating “Taiwanese independence” and “one China, one Taiwan.”
International delegations met at one of the conference’s subforums on how landlocked developing nations, least developing nations and developing small-island states can improve their Internet connectivity and affordability to aid in policymaking, build public infrastructure and introduce services.
Tang streamed her speech using a mobile “telepresence robot.”
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
She was introduced as the “Digital Minister of Taiwan” by Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the UN Office at Geneva Miguel Ibarra, who chaired the meeting.
While introducing Tang’s work in the public and private sectors, Ibarra also used the term “country” to refer to Taiwan numerous times
Taiwan has long been committed to helping its diplomatic allies in building basic infrastructure in various areas, including information and communications technology (ICT), Tang said.
She gave an overview of online services offered by the Taiwanese government, which people use to file taxes, renew drivers’ licences, apply for car registration certificates and make doctors’ appointments.
She also spoke about the e-Gate system that allows Taiwanese and qualifying foreign travelers swift passage through airport customs in and out of the nation.
With the fruits of steady developments in its ICT sector, the advent of new technologies and a wide Internet coverage, Taiwan — through recommendations by the UN Economic and Social Council and the International Telecommunication Union — has expanded its development assistance to its allies to include e-governance support, Tang said.
Taiwan has initiated ICT partnerships with Belize, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Paraguay, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland and Tuvalu to work on a range of projects including integrating traffic monitoring systems, applying geographic information systems, managing medical information and installing wireless local area networks, as well as establishing electronic document systems, she said.
Citing the UN E-Government Survey conducted last year, Tang said that Tuvalu and Palau in particular have reported “significant related improvements,” highlighting Taiwan’s success in assisting developing countries with their ICT technology.
A few Taiwanese officials provided their input on the topic after Tang.
The move triggered a reaction from Ji, a counselor at China’s mission to the UN Office in Geneva.
“I am very concerned about what happened, a couple of people from Taiwan speaking as officials of a so-called national government calling Taiwan a so-called small country,” Ji said.
“This is very inappropriate. IGF is a UN platform, which only allows UN-recognized nations to participate, and as a UN platform it is not the place for people to advocate ‘one China, one Taiwan’ or Taiwanese independence,” he said.
“I do not know how these people registered as participants of this meeting, because, according to UN resolutions, such things are not allowed,” he said.
“Let me just say that we are not talking politics here. We are just talking policies,” Ibarra replied, adding that he had no intention of taking into account any situation other than “contributions from what people are doing well and success stories.”
In response to Ji, an ambassador from the Solomon Islands said that it “goes without saying that ICT has no agenda, knows no boundaries or nationalities.”
“There should be no restrictions on whichever individual, country or organization that has expertise to sell them to us,” he said.
Taiwan is in the same league as the US, Japan, India and China in terms of the technology it can offer that has proven beneficial to the Solomon Islands, which is what attendees were there to learn about, the Solomon Islands ambassador said, adding that he did not see Tang’s speech as political.
“In response to our colleague from the Solomon Islands, the UN is first of all a political organization. It is true that the Internet has no borders, but people have nationalities. As for sharing our expertise and experience and even technical and financial assistance to the least developed countries, China stands ready to do that,” Ji said.
One of Tang’s aides thanked Paraguay for allowing Tang to take part in the meeting by teleconference.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that Taiwan is a vital stakeholder and contributor in the field of Internet governance and that Tang having been invited to speak at the event showcased the nation’s contributions and capabilities in the field.
Additional reporting by CNA
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS