Lai takes advice from high schoolers on fighting Chinese disinformation

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Saturday listened to senior high school students' suggestions on how Taiwan could counter the influence of Chinese apps such as TikTok and RedNote, and discussed the regulation of AI in education.

Lai made the remarks at a youth forum in Taipei hosted by the Chinese-language Business Today magazine, where he listened to students' proposals on various issues and shared his views.

A team from Kang Chiao International School proposed strengthening Taiwan's democratic system and national identity by modeling history education on the advanced placement United States history course taught at high schools in the U.S.

The course emphasizes comparison, causation, continuity and change over time, and requires students to analyze how historical events have shaped present-day phenomena, they said.

Such a course, they said, would equip students in Taiwan with critical thinking skills and help prevent pervasive "redacted history" content on Chinese apps such as TikTok and RedNote from eroding Taiwanese people's sense of identity.

Lai praised the idea, saying the threat posed by TikTok and RedNote to Taiwan's younger generations could become a national security issue.

"If not handled properly, Taiwan could lose its will to safeguard democracy over time," Lai said. "We would treat China as a good guy, even though it wants to annex and invade us."

He said the government's efforts to limit the use of TikTok and RedNote had focused on reducing exposure, but had neglected the role of history education in helping children understand "the real Taiwan" through discourse and critical thinking.

He instructed Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture officials present at the event to take the students' proposal under advisement.

Taiwan has implemented a one-year blanket ban on RedNote since December 2025 over concerns about information security and scams committed through the app. It has also banned military personnel and civil servants from installing TikTok on government-issued devices because of "information security loopholes" in the app.

Another team, from National Feng-Hsin Senior High School in Kaohsiung, proposed introducing a mandatory AI class in the senior high school curriculum to ensure students have fair access to AI education.

Although the Artificial Intelligence Basic Act, promulgated in January, aims to promote "digital equality" and ensure fair access to AI-related education and training, AI learning resources in practice tend to be concentrated among high-achieving students or certain schools, the students said.

They proposed a curriculum that would teach students how AI works, its applications, the risks associated with its use, and the distinction between appropriate AI use and plagiarism.

In response, Lai said the age at which AI should become part of students' learning and the extent to which it should be incorporated would be critical questions in developing AI-related curricula, to avoid depriving students of professional or problem-solving skills.

"Early and high-quality exposure would make kids more competitive in the age of AI. We need not dread it … but we should take potential negative impacts associated with it seriously," he said. He instructed the Ministry of Education to continue discussions with schools at all levels on how early AI should be incorporated into national education and how prominent a role it should be given.