Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang met with the Seimas Economics Committee, Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with Taiwan and attended the inaugural Free Digital Democracy Dialogue, or F3D, Jan. 12 in Lithuania.
 
Tang, who is visiting the EU member state Jan. 10 to 13 at the head of a Taiwan delegation, addressed Economy Chair Kazys Starkevičius, Group Chair Matas Maldeikis and a number of cross-party legislators on issues such as freedom, democracy and digital resilience. Talks were informative and open, reflecting the strength of Taiwan-Lithuania ties.

Questions from the Committee and Group members spanned a broad spectrum of areas, including Taiwan’s ability to respond to external challenges and strengthen democracy using digital platforms. Tang shared civil society and cybersecurity industry co-creation experiences aimed at building multiparty verification systems, promoting media literacy training and spurring youth engagement in related processes.
 
Following the successful Seimas visit, Tang made history as the first minister from abroad to receive e-residency in Lithuania.

The farsighted initiative shows the world what can be accomplished when the power of digitalization is utilized in improving the lives of the people and, in the case of Taiwan and Lithuania, deepening friendship and expanding exchanges, she added.
 
According to Tang, the moda—as overseer of the Electronic Signatures Act—will examine ways Taiwan and the Legislature can achieve digital certificate equality, mutual recognition and reciprocity so as to facilitate business transactions among Taiwan, Lithuania and other EU member states.
 
Later the same day, Tang attended F3D themed Rewards and Risks: Can Digitalization Free the Future? at Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political Science. She delivered a well-received address, elaborating on Taiwan’s experiences in digital democracy and the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ free the future philosophy.
 
Tang also fielded questions on topics like cybersecurity, freedom, democracy, digital industry development, disinformation, misinformation and related laws. In addition, she led discussions among panelists from Lithuania’s information security and legal sectors. These included Linas Bukauskas, director of the Security Lab at the Institute of Computer Science at Vilnius University; Tomas Martinkėnas, director of security and privacy affairs at fashion goods trading platform Vinted; and Senior business lawyer Julia Kalpokiene on addressing challenges and opportunities in an era of rapidly changing digital technology.
 
Other subjects broached ranged from the Taiwan Model of digital democracy and moda’s commitment to working with international partners in defending democracy, as well as ways of promoting peace, stability and inclusive prosperity through digital technology.
 
According to Tang, democracies must improve the public’s digital literacy, as well as introduce cybersecurity measures such as a zero-trust architecture. Natural partners Taiwan and Lithuania should take every opportunity to enhance bilateral communications and work together in bolstering digital resilience, she said.
 
Staged in association with the institute and education and training outfit Go Forward Academy, F3D is a world-class event attracting inquiring minds from Taiwan, Lithuania and other freedom- and democracy-loving countries throughout the region. 
 
In the evening Tang was guided by Zygimantas Pavilionis, chair of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, and Emanuelis Zingeris, deputy chair of the European Affairs Committee, at a Day of the Defenders of Freedom bonfire lighting ceremony. The commemorative event, which attracts participants from across the country, is held annually in memory of those killed in 1991, by Soviet forces while defending Lithuania’s reestablished independence and sovereignty.