TWIGF Chairman Wu, Minister without Portfolio Dr. Lo, Minister without Portfolio Tang, Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Hsieh, speakers and friends from industrial, governmental, academic and research sectors, online communities, citizen groups and media, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!
　　First of all, I would like to sincerely thank the organizer for inviting me to deliver these opening remarks at the 2020 Taiwan Internet Governance Forum (TWIGF). I am very delighted to attend TWIGF once again. Based on the operation model of the United Nation's "Internet Governance Forum", TWIGF, consisting of multiple stakeholders submitting unsolicited proposals and jointly deciding all workshop sessions, has achieved much success over the years and has already inspired more communities to join in. And from this year’s agenda, we can see that there are an increasing number of communities discussing a diverse range of issues through this platform. Therefore, I would like to share some of my thoughts through this opportunity.
　　The significance of Internet governance has been widely appreciated due to the rise of the Internet. The Internet has not only accelerated the global development, but also subverted the operations of traditional society and caused many emerging issues related to governance. It is especially so in 2020, where the real society has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the crisis, not only has the stay-at-home economy received a major boost, but the demand for multiple online applications has seen explosive growth. These include, for example, working from home, online meetings, e-learning, binge-watch online, online food orders, as well as a number of measures and mask-rationing plan for pandemic prevention, and we see that the Internet has played a hugely significant role. However, we have also seen other issues, such as cyber security, privacy protection and misinformation becoming more prevalent.
　　As COVID-19 may still cause a number of other unpredictable changes to the society in the near future, we should perhaps think about how Taiwan can further promote the digital transformation with the aid of stay-at-home economy, traditional industries can make effective use of the online technologies to enhance their business, and digital rights can be enhanced for the disadvantageous groups within our nation in order to further enhance Taiwan’s digital competitiveness!
　　Internet governance involves various specializations, requiring all sectors to give attention and continuously provide opinions thereto. It emphasizes on the “process” and “coordination”, where stakeholders can, through continuous interaction and conversation, gradually reach consensus on relevant issues and develop a set of norms or approaches. During this development process, the government should also gradually change into a new role of participation and guidance, aiming to increase our nation’s wealth of knowledge related to Internet governance, train talent who are able to participate in domestic or foreign Internet governance projects; and further develop Taiwan into an even more open, inclusive, trustworthy and innovative digital society with a firm and better foundation.
　　This year, the forum is themed on “One World, One Internet?”. As the Internet society continues to take shape and the Internet has far-reaching characteristic, digital rights, digital sovereignty, digital diplomacy as well as online content regulation, cross-border e-commerce, open data and Internet resources have all become important issues that must be faced with all seriousness. I believe that the discussions over the following one and half days will be insightful and beneficial. Also, as the regulator of Taiwan’s communications industries, NCC hopes that such discussions can assist all stakeholders in deepening their understanding of the latest trends of global Internet development and progressing with the time and help NCC better shape the regulatory policies and guidelines in compliance with the needs of the broadband network society. Finally, I wish the 2020 TWIGF a great success and all of you a fruitful day, good health and all the best. Thank you!