Tokyo University Scholars Curious About How Chiang Wan-an Will Campaign; Shen Po-yang: He's Cautious Because He Aims for Presidency

Shen Po-yang, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) mayoral candidate for Taipei, met on the 31st with the University of Tokyo's 'Cross-Strait Relations Research Group,' engaging in discussions with scholars such as Professor Matsuda Yasuhiro from the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. They analyzed international developments and issues concerning AI data security. Shen emphasized that cities in Taiwan should deepen exchanges with Japanese counterparts on AI governance and information security to enhance urban safety.

On AI development, Shen pointed out that Taiwan currently places great importance on 'AI sovereignty,' aiming to train locally developed AI models using indigenous data. The first critical step, he noted, is data preparation—ensuring Taiwan's local data and computational logic are secured. Given the high costs of training AI models, Shen argued that Taiwan's most rational strategy at this stage is to follow Japan's example by prioritizing data preservation. This includes comprehensively archiving Taiwan's publishing content and diverse online expressions from the past, refining and preserving clean, Taiwan-specific data—an approach he believes is most suitable for Taiwan.

When asked by Japanese scholars about Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an's campaign strategy, Shen bluntly stated that Chiang adopts a highly conservative approach, avoiding mistakes. 'The reason is simple: Chiang Wan-an wants to run for president, so he fears making errors.' Shen also observed that his opponent's current key strategy is to ignore him, as any attack would draw public attention to the fact that 'Shen Po-yang is running for Taipei mayor.'

When questioned about the so-called 'Yangliu' phenomenon—referring to his sudden surge in popularity—Shen admitted it emerged only about ten days ago and surprised even himself. He explained that the designer of the 'Yangliu' campaign materials recently cited three reasons on a talk show: his proposed solution to Taipei's severe rat infestation problem; his policy proposal for 'sports stations' to help delivery workers cool down after sweating; and his vision to replace Taipei's current focus on the Taipei-Shanghai Forum with a new 'Infinite City Forum' involving Tokyo, New York, and London—factors that have collectively boosted public support.