In the first year of the pandemic, Taiwan was hailed as a model of epidemic containment, largely due to the swift rollout of technological strategies facilitated by Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang. The “mask maps”, put together by civic hackers, used real-time data from the National Health Insurance’s database of pharmacy supplies, enabling users to quickly find available masks. Public safety campaigns also banked on the virality of cute dogs, using the government mascot Shiba Inu to enforce health guidelines. In July 2021, Tang launched the 1922 vaccine appointment system to fast-track what had been a late start to the nation’s vaccination program.

Tang is Taiwan’s first Digital Minister, the youngest appointee, and the first non-binary and transgender person to join the cabinet. A self-taught programming whiz, Tang was working the tech start-up and open-source scene when their involvement in the 2014 Sunflower Movement caught the eye of the government and was subsequently invited to design a media literacy curriculum for schools.

In August 2022 the Ministry of Digital Affairs was established as a full cabinet-level ministry, in charge of all policy and regulations regarding information, telecommunications, cybersecurity and the internet. Under Tang's leadership, the ministry works under the core concept of providing “digital resilience for all”: “The so-called resilience refers to not only being able to withstand unfavourable situations such as epidemics and natural disasters, but also to be able to recover quickly from the blow, learn from it, and strengthen one's response. For example, Taiwan is facing severe threats of overseas cyber attacks. The official website of the Ministry of Digital Affairs is the first government agency website in Taiwan to adopt the InterPlanetary File System, so that the official website of the Ministry of Digital Affairs remains unaffected in the face of DDOS attacks. In addition, we are also drawing on Ukraine's experience, a proof-of-concept will be carried out on non-geostationary orbit satellites to strengthen Taiwan's communication resilience in emergencies such as natural disasters or wartime.”