Audrey Tang, the Minister of Digital Affairs, led a delegation to the UK to visit the headquarters of OneWeb, a British satellite service provider, on June 13th local time, to learn more about the company’s satellite technology and operations. Minister Tang said that the Ministry of Digital Affairs (moda) is building a non-synchronous orbital satellite as a backup network and welcomes all qualified industry providers to participate. She also expected that this visit would facilitate Taiwan’s digital resilience cooperation with the UK.

During the visit to OneWeb’s headquarters, Minister Tang introduced Taiwan’s “Program for the Digital Resilience Validation of Emerging Technologies for Contingency or Wartime Applications,” which will conduct a Proof of Concept (PoC) on non-synchronous orbital satellites as an emergency backup network. Minister Tang also received a briefing from OneWeb and a tour of how the satellite communications facility will operate in practice.

Minister Tang pointed out that Taiwan has been subject to uncertainties such as earthquakes and foreign forces for years, and in the event of an emergency, it is likely that Taiwan may suffer a communication disruption caused by a damaged submarine cable. In view of the global focus on low-orbit satellite applications after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the moda expects to unite international industry providers to achieve communication resilience with diverse technologies and heterogeneous solutions.

Minister Tang then went on to meet with Judith Cummins, Member of the House of Commons, Sonny Leong, Member of the House of Lords, and Nick Thomas-Symonds, Member of Parliament, to discuss opportunities for Taiwan-UK cooperation under digital transformation.

Minister Tang said that in an era where AI and other technologies are rapidly popularized, to avoid excessive centralization of power, it is necessary to promote the participation of civil society in governance through democratization, and to achieve a positive cycle through the collaborative efforts of the masses in order to move toward a trustworthy digital era. The UK affirms and supports Taiwan’s development direction as regards democracy, rule of law and human rights, and praises Taiwan’s leading position in digital technology, and is willing to deepen the trade cooperation and dialogue mechanism between Taiwan and the UK, so as to create a partnership in line with bilateral interests.