On October 27, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (moda) Minister Audrey Tang gave a pre-recorded speech at the 11th Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD). She explained how Taiwan is reinforcing and implementing democracy through digital innovation and a public partnership, and is showing the world an attainable and sustainable model of digital democracy. She added that Taiwan’s current priority is to build a reliable supply chain that will help its democratic partners to jointly address cyber security issues such as cyber-attacks.

In her speech, Tang gave examples of Taiwan’s reinforcement and implementation of democracy through digital innovation and public partnership. These included designating participation officers and providing the “Join” platform to expand society’s participation in the government’s policy-making process; encouraging civil groups to participate and collaborate in the Presidential Hackathon to produce innovative social issue solutions; and developing anti-pandemic measures such as the “face mask map” and 1922 SMS Contact Tracing System during the COVID-19 outbreak. Taiwan has thus demonstrated to the world an attainable and sustainable mode of digital democracy.

Tang added that Taiwan’s moda, established in August, is dedicated to realizing its core principle of “national digital resilience” by utilizing digital tools to support the country through situations such as the pandemic and natural disasters. Furthermore, it aims to help Taiwan recover from such events, and learn from them to become fundamentally stronger.

For example, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, Taiwan was enduring intense cyber-attacks from overseas, and many digital monitors at public locations were hacked, showing hateful messages. The moda immediately revised relevant regulations to enhance cyber security.

Additionally, Tang said that Taiwan’s advanced information technology industry, including the semiconductor sector, has excellent cyber security capabilities, which can help the country’s democratic partners deal with issues such as cyber-attacks. Therefore, Taiwan’s top mission is to build a reliable supply chain, to redefine “Made in Taiwan” as an assurance of trust as well as quality.

The 11th WMD Global Assembly was held from October 25 to 27 in Taipei, by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) and U.S. National Endowment for Democracy; it attracted over 200 attendees from over 70 countries. President Tsai Ing-wen gave welcome remarks during the October 25 opening ceremony, which was attended by honored guests including the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Ressa; Legislative Yuan President and TFD Chair, You Si-kun; and Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy Chair, Chang Yu-meng.