Returning digital sovereignty to the peopleBy Julian Chu 朱殿蓉Late last month, an op-ed authored by Hsin-na (馨娜) published in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) astutely observed how the Chinese Communist Party uses its National Digital Asset Authentication and Registration Center to enmesh individuals’ digital lives within its state surveillance network. In today’s digital age, the question of where data rights lie is no longer a purely economic matter, but part of a political struggle for defending sovereignty. The Chinese model undeniably has its advantages in tech governance. It is a kind of technological outsourcing that does little to resist backdoor surveillance by great powers, and reduces data sovereignty to fodder for corporate extraction. Data sovereignty must be returned to the people, and power must operate in the light of day — this should be Taiwan’s path in the digital age.

Source: Taipei Times February 26, 2026 16:30 UTC