The French Senate’s France-Taiwan Friendship Group on Sept. 17 visited the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) to discuss information warfare, national security, and energy resilience. The delegation was led by Rachid Temal, vice-president of the French Senate’s France-Taiwan Friendship Group.
In his opening remarks, Vice-President Temal stated that this trip is to reiterate their support to Taiwan and emphasized the importance of DSET’s work in securing democracy, especially in raising awareness among civil society on issues like information warfare. He also posed questions about the recent technology developments in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its potential threats to Taiwan.
Dr. Kai-Shen Huang, Director of DSET’s Democratic Governance Program, pointed out that China in recent years has adjusted its economic policies to tackle the problem of overcapacity. This has led to social instability due to policies prioritizing the balancing of industries. In China’s attempt to securitize society, Dr. Huang said the PRC has been adopting measures like vocalizing ideologies on Taiwan’s political status to turn Taiwan into a distraction from China’s internal issues.
DSET also added that there are signs that demonstrate the PRC’s will to increase its capacity to invade Taiwan, including the expansion and escalation of military exercises with precise targets, and increased frequency of communication interference. Taiwan has also been learning from the Ukraine experience in both strengthening industrial defense and civil defense. Examples include Taiwan increasing its capacity in manufacturing drones, the establishment of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee at the Presidential Office, and civil defense courses provided by local civil society organizations.
The delegation also inquired about Taiwan’s efforts in energy transition and concerns of Taiwan pooling economic and human resources in the semiconductor industry, hindering the development of other industries.
DSET’s Energy Resilience Program Policy Analyst Chen-Yen Chang said Taiwan’s progress in energy transition reflects the predicament between maintaining Taiwan as the manufacturing center of the semiconductor industry, but semiconductor production also consumes high levels of energy and water.
Chang also emphasized that Taiwan has in recent years made a number of developments in renewable energy, such as ranking first among East Asian countries in the construction of offshore wind farms.
DSET stated that in addition to developing the semiconductor industry, Taiwan has been proactively exporting locally manufactured drones to further secure the UAV supply chain in democratic societies. DSET’s report “Resilience in Truth: Public-Private Collaboration in Taiwan’s Response to Disinformation” also emphasizes Taiwan’s civil society contributions to the democratic society, such as government and civil society collective initiatives in combating information manipulation.
