Over two days (November 9th & 10th), the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association co-hosted a GCTF virtual seminar with the theme of Defending Democracy Through Media Literacy III with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan), the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the British Office Taipei, and the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office Taipei.
Hiroyasu Izumi, Chief Representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association gave a speech at the opening ceremony. At the second day’s session, Daisuke Furuta, Board Member of FactCheck Initiative Japan gave a presentation.
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association will continue to actively contribute to GCTF in the future.
The whole speech from Chief Representative Izumi follows (tentative translation).
President, Legislative Yuan, Mr. You, Xi-Kun Yuan-zhang
Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Zeng, Hou-Ren Ci-zhang
AIT Director, Ms. OUDKIRK
British Representative, Mr. Dennis
Slovak Representative, Mr. PODSTAVEK
Distinguished guests online,
It is my great pleasure to co-host the GCTF Virtual workshop on media literacy. I heartily welcome our Slovak colleagues for their first time co-hosting this workshop.
This is the first time in two years that we have focused on media literacy at GCTF. In the past two years, the global spread of COVID-19 has brought great challenges to our lifestyle. The environment surrounding media and information has also changed dramatically.
While the unknown virus has made people anxious, disinformation has added to the confusion. Japan’s “FRIENDSHIP VACCINE” to Taiwan also suffered from disinformation attacks. I was so sorry to hear that there was disinformation spreading on social media which distorts the friendship between Japan and Taiwan.
However, media and information have also served to strengthen the power of good through connecting people and the world that had been disconnected by the pandemic. Taiwan has been providing daily information on fighting COVID-19 through the media. People around the world, including those in Japan have learned about Taiwan's excellent measures against COVID-19 on the internet. We have been able to stay connected to one another through social media during this pandemic, even though we cannot meet face to face.
Despite the current travel restrictions between Japan and Taiwan, thanks to social media, our friendship has been growing stronger and stronger.
Taiwan has not only been fighting against disinformation on the front line but is also an exemplary pioneer in areas such as information disclosure and the practical use of social media.
I am convinced that sharing Taiwan's experience with other countries at this GCTF will be beneficial in strengthening media literacy globally in order to protect our democracy in times of chaos.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your efforts and commitment in organizing today's GCTF Virtual Workshop. Thank you very much.
