leading to speculation that it is preparing for an invasion. taiwan has also been subjected to cyber attacks from china. my guest is the taiwanese digital minister, audrey tang. can taiwan really forge its own path? minister audrey tang in taipei, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. really happy to be here. president xi of china reiterated at the recent chinese communist party congress that china wants to strive for the prospect of peaceful unification with taiwan, but that he will never promise to give up the option to use force. just sum up briefly the mood for us, the reaction to that possibly new threat. well, there s a familiar message. we ve been hearing that for quite some time. of course, we have to prepare ourselves to face the authoritarian expansionism, but that has been the case for as long as i can remember. so people have not been at all worried by this renewed threat? not especially worried. of course, we ve been seeing renewed interest in, for example, countering
the north and south. north korea s military said it responded by firing ten artillery shots. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk with zeinab badawi. welcome hardtalk with zeinab badawi. to the special editio of welcome to the special edition of hard tour from the taiwanese capital, taipei. people here in taiwan which is self governed live under constant threat from china which lies about 160 kilometres across the waters. beijing claims taiwan as part of its territory, and in the past few months has carried out hundreds of military sorties near taiwan, hundreds of military sorties neartaiwan, leading hundreds of military sorties near taiwan, leading to speculation that it is preparing for an invasion. taiwan has also been subjected to cyber attacks from china, my guest is the taiwanese digital minister, audrey tang. can taiwan really forge its own path? minister, audrey tang and taipei welcome to hardtalk. thank you, happy to be here. xi jinping reiterated at the recent china party
my guest is the taiwanese digital minister, audrey tang. can taiwan really forge its own path? minister audrey tang in taipei, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. really happy to be here. president xi of china reiterated at the recent chinese communist party congress that china wants to strive for the prospect of peaceful unification with taiwan, but that he will never promise to give up the option to use force. just sum up briefly the mood for us, the reaction to that possibly new threat. well, there s a familiar message. we ve been hearing that for quite some time. of course, we have to prepare ourselves to face the authoritarian expansionism, but that has been the case for as long as i can remember. so people have not been at all worried by this renewed threat? not especially worried. of course, we ve been seeing renewed interest in, for example, countering disinformation, cybersecurity attacks and so on. but i think the overall mood is quite calm. ok, because china has claime
do you see a shift in policy? do you see an abandonment of that strategic ambiguity in favour of a more robust approach? it s been called strategic clarity, right? spelling it out, as you just mentioned. yeah. so you do. but do you think that s reassuring for the taiwanese? or arguably, it could put you right in the middle of the growing tensions between china and the united states. you could end up becoming a pawn in this superpower rivalry. mm hm. yeah, a couple of things. i think, first of all, clarity doesn t mean escalation. so it s not like we re escalating the tension here. that s the first thing. and the second thing is that, as i mentioned, there s a lot of willingness from not just the us but also european counterparts and many other democratic allies. all the 60 signatories of the declaration for the future of the internet is committed to keep it free and open. can wejust. sticking with the tensions,
approach crosstalk. spelling it out as ou approach crosstalk. spelling it out as you mentioned, approach crosstalk. spelling it out as you mentioned, yes. i approach crosstalk. spelling it out as you mentioned, yes. so i out as you mentioned, yes. so do ou out as you mentioned, yes. so do you think that is reassuring for the taiwanese or arguably it could put you right in the middle of the growing tensions between china and the united states, you could end up becoming a pawn in the superpower rivalry. yes, a cou . le superpower rivalry. yes, a couple of superpower rivalry. yes, a couple of things. - superpower rivalry. yes, a couple of things. i - superpower rivalry. yes, a couple of things. i think i superpower rivalry. yes, a l couple of things. i think first of all, clarity doesn t mean escalation. like we are escalating the tension here. that s the first thing. the second thing is as i mentioned, there is a lot of willingness from notjust the us but also european counterparts a