Audrey Tang extols Taiwan after Munich Cyber Security Conference

Munich, Feb. 15 (CNA) Audrey Tang (唐鳳), Taiwan's ambassador-at-large for cyber affairs, said on Saturday that freedom and security are not mutually exclusive, and praised Taiwan's approach to digital challenges.

"Freedom and security are not a trade-off, but instead are a deepening of democracy," the former Minister for Digital Affairs told a CNA reporter in Munich, Germany.

"The stronger the social consensus, the greater the resilience and security, and the better able to withstand threats," Tang added.

Tang was in Germany to attend the Munich Cyber Security Conference, which took place on Thursday and Friday.

In a 10-minute address to the conference, Tang praised Taiwan's approach to tackling complex digital threats by building national consensus through open methods, including measures such as real-name registration for online advertisements, fighting online fraud and using artificial intelligence to enhance democracy.

"Taiwan currently has a much larger international space," Tang told CNA two days after the conclusion of the global digital meeting attended by politicians, academics, business people and defense experts.

"What we need to do now is not just to let the world know about Taiwan, but to let the world know in which areas specific multilateral cooperation with Taiwan can be carried out," Tang said, without giving specific examples.

Tang, who served as Taiwan's first digital affairs minister between 2022 and 2024, also alluded to the threat authoritarian states pose to democratic nations.

The ambassador-at-large suggested that Europe is "only now encountering the threats that Taiwan has faced for a long time," a likely reference to Russia's increasingly bellicose approach to Europe including its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as well as the long-standing determination by the People's Republic of China to annex Taiwan.

Tang suggested there were similarities between two incidents: the cutting of submarine cables between Finland and Estonia last year, and the disconnection of cables linking Taiwan's main island and its outlying Matsu islands (Lienchiang County) last month.

During the recent Taiwanese telecom cable failure, which the Ministry of Digital Affairs claimed was due to "natural deterioration" rather than Chinese actions, Taiwan used microwave relay towers and backup satellite communications systems to maintain uninterrupted internet connectivity, Tang said.

The ambassador-at-large also cited Taiwan's first direct democratic presidential election in 1996 as evidence that nations need not fear new technologies harming their democracies.

"The internet and democracy grew together [in Taiwan]," Tang said, "which proves that democratic systems can be updated just like internet software."