Hello. How are you?
Good. You’re in the airport at the moment.
I can hear you really well. That’s great. Where are you going?
Fantastic. What are you doing there?
Fantastic. That sounds lovely. Well, thank you for taking the time while you’re at the airport to speak to me. I really appreciate it.
That’s plenty of time. Don’t worry. I think we’ll take a half an hour probably, if that’s OK.
Yes.
It could be.
It depends how much you have to say, but if you have to say a lot, I’m happy with that because we want to get as much information as we can. We’re doing a big piece. It’s 1,500 words.
We want lots of detail if possible. Should we begin?
I’m recording, but my recorder is only doing the audio at the moment. Are you recording, as well?
Perfect. Thank you very much. Could you start with telling me a bit about your background? Have you always been into programming? What was it like growing up for you in Taiwan?
How did you become interested in politics?
Very interesting. Tell me about the Sunflower Movements and how it changed things in Taiwan and led you to where you are?
Where were you when it was happening? What were you doing personally?
Fantastic. It sounds like it’s very highly organized, as well, which might be one of the reasons it worked so well. Do you agree with that?
That made sense. Tell me about how you met CL and how you ended up working together, because I’ve spoken to Nesta in the UK. They describe the situation where you met and you went back to the government. How did that work in real life?
Yeah.
How did your relationship develop? How did you get involved together in the current Taiwan initiative?
You’ve been digital minister since 2016. You are the youngest-ever minister in the government, is that correct?
[laughs] You’re one of the youngest, we could...
[laughs] What’s life like for you now?
What’s a typical day like for you now?
I have no idea. Friday.
Yes, I can.
Can I ask you how do you ensure the participation of kind of a wide range of people? Because, obviously, it’s quite appealing to young people. Do you have quite a wide range of age intended?
That was very interesting. What are your aims for the future? Your Twitter profile, you define yourself as an anarchist. Could you explain that to me, and tell me what your aims are?
On your Twitter profile, you describe yourself as an anarchist.
What does that mean?
That makes a lot of sense. What are your aims as Digital Minister? What are you going to be doing, going forward?
You mention AI as one of the technologies that you think is going to be helpful and kind of play to these large amounts of information and opinions. Is there any other technology? Are you talking about the Pol.is Platform, that’s an AI-enabled platform, isn’t it?
Very interesting. Are there any other plans in terms of what you’re doing in vTaiwan for the future? Are you going to be expanding out to beyond digital policy making?
Your approach is quite unique across the world, if you look at other democracies. Can you see it working anywhere else, or is it very unique to you?
Thank you. That’s really interesting, and thank you for explaining everything so clearly and concisely. I appreciate that.
Was there anything more? I think we’ve covered all the questions. I don’t know if you thought there was anything that might be missing that might be interesting for our readers.
Great. Thank you so much for talking to me today. It was really good to meet you. I appreciate your time.
We did? [laughs] One hour and seven minutes, that was good.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate that. Have a good flight, and a good time in New Zealand.
Take care.
Bye.
