TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Members of the visiting New Zealand parliamentary delegation emphasized the importance of cybersecurity at a foreign ministry press conference on Tuesday (April 16).
Kiwi lawmaker and co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Ingrid Leary said that “threats to democracies come from all around the world at any time from state actors and non-state actors.” Therefore, the global community must be “vigilant” and “agnostic” because people can be both competitors and collaborators at the same time, she said.
New Zealand must be accountable for its security and “have the technology and the regulatory framework and the consciousness to make sure that we are vigilant to people from all parts of the world,” Leary said.
Fellow lawmaker Joseph Mooney said there was an “ongoing challenge” around the spread of information. He noted that there was a change in how people consumed information and said the New Zealand parliament will continue to hold discussions on the importance of media.
“It is something that we take quite seriously,” he said.
Lawmaker Todd Stephenson mentioned Taiwan’s “high-tech industries” and noted that the country was rapidly developing AI and other advanced technologies. “I think there is an opportunity for some collaborations on those topics and I think that’s something we can explore in this discussion as we go forward,” he said.
The delegation is in Taiwan for a six-day trip to “gain a better understanding of Taiwan’s thriving democracy and diverse civil society and explore potential areas of bilateral collaboration,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier on Tuesday, the lawmakers met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in which they praised Taiwan’s democracy and highlighted close bilateral ties.
