TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Day two of the 36th Joint Conference of the ROC-Australia Council (ROCABC) and the Australia-Taiwan Business Council (ATBC) on Tuesday (Aug. 15) was packed with trade and security topics.

Special video presentations were made by the Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and Australia’s Special Minister of State and Minister for Trade and Tourism Senator Don Farrell, both affirming the strong bonds between Australia and Taiwan.

These video presentations were then followed up with a presentation by the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Deputy Minister and Chancellor of the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Ambassador Tien Chung-kwang (田中光), who also reiterated the strong economic, trade, and cultural relationship that has long existed between Taiwan and Australia.

The dignitaries and delegates were then able to enjoy an in-depth presentation by the State of Queensland’s Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment, Cameron Dick. The treasurer gave a speech on the prospects for Queensland and Taiwan’s on-going relationship.

The treasurer stressed such topics as the development of a green renewable hydrogen industry with Queensland aiming to be the leader in hydrogen production in Australia by 2030 and his belief that Queensland’s growing capacity in renewable hydrogen production could be of great benefit to Taiwan in its 2050 Net-Zero Pathway plans.

Queensland has also long been a steady supplier of energy resources to Taiwan with significant partnerships in mining, between China Steel and QCoal, Taipower and Glencore, and Bowen Coking Coal and Formosa Plastics.

Queensland also wants to deepen its existing collaborations in food and agriculture, including the current work between the Taiwan Banana Research Institute and the Queensland Department of Agriculture toward the development of TR4 disease-resistant bananas.

Queensland’s Sunny Queen Eggs stepped in to supply millions of eggs during recent shortages in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s TI Space is testing rockets in the Lockyer Valley near Brisbane, with Rocket Technologies International.

In education and training, Queensland is supporting Taiwan’s quest to be a bilingual nation by 2030 by remaining one of Taiwan’s top international education providers.

The treasurer also shared the news of a new collaboration at the cutting edge of nanoparticle technology between Gene Company, a biotech start-up, which has entered into a licensing agreement with Queensland’s Griffith University to develop and commercialize a novel RNA drug candidate. This drug has the potential to become a universal treatment for COVID-19, along with other viral respiratory infections caused by coronaviruses.

In a final message, the treasurer said, "Queensland sees Taiwan as a resilient partner of yesterday, a resilient partner today, and a resilient partner of tomorrow."

The rest of the morning session comprised presentations on energy transition, smart agriculture and wellbeing and health, all areas of mutual interest and collaboration between the two countries.

The afternoon session was a panel discussion on cyber security. It was acknowledged that cyber security is a national security interest for Taiwan. This was evidenced by the 2022 inauguration by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the new Ministry of Digital Affairs, which has been given a broad mandate for overseeing the development of digital infrastructure and cyber security in Taiwan.

The panel was moderated by Rowan Callick, vice chairman of the ATBC, who was joined by a distinguished panel including Robert Chin, chair of the Taiwan CISO Alliance, CISO, ASUSTek Computer Inc., professor John Fitzgerald, School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Dr. Da-yu Kao (高大宇), vice chair, Taiwan CISO Alliance, deputy head of Information Security Division, Bank SinoPac and professor Paul Watters, academic dean of Academies Australasia Polytechnic.

The panel discussed major cyber security issues Taiwan faces daily and examples of major cyber security breaches in Australia over the last 12 months. There were plenty of questions from the audience and the discussion ended on an encouraging note with the Australian and Taiwanese representatives agreeing to work more closely in the future in the fight against cyber security breaches.