Former president 
Tsai Ing-wen said at a National Taiwan University lecture on September 10 that after Taiwan has been seen by the world, its people need to see one another with care. She appeared in conversation with Fubon Group chairman Daniel Tsai at what Liberty Times reported was the 16th session of a university lecture series.
How did she describe Taiwan's change? Speaking under the theme "Same island, different perspectives: seeing Taiwan's change," Tsai said she and Daniel Tsai, classmates in the university's law department, had set out from the same classroom and taken very different paths, CNA reported. He watched the economy change from the vantage of business, finance and industry, she said, while her own route ran from academia and trade negotiations to government, and to a presidency she "never expected." When they were students, she said, Taiwan was still under martial law, and at the time it was hard to imagine that 50 years later the president would be directly elected, "and that a woman could be president, even a female vice president." She said the changes accumulated step by step as generations of Taiwanese did their own work well in different roles.
What did she say about the economy? The same economic growth figure may feel entirely different to people in different industries and generations, Tsai said, CNA reported. Some see growth opportunities in AI, semiconductors and global markets, she said, while for many young people the most direct experience may be the pressure of rent, tuition and living costs. A mature country, she said, must turn development into opportunities for more people, so that a person's future depends less on family background. She cited student dormitories, saying the government has subsidised more than NT$3.2 billion since 2019 to build or improve over 55,000 beds nationwide.
What did she ask of young people? She urged the young to harness technology in the AI era and lead society through professional expertise, Liberty Times reported, and asked those trained in law to use their skill at "sorting neutral language out of complicated facts." Her generation, she said in remarks CNA reported, lived through democratization, economic take-off and globalization, while young people now face AI, climate change and geopolitics. Fifty years ago, she said, they did not know what Taiwan would look like today, and young people likewise do not know where they will be in 50 years, "but what Taiwan will look like 50 years from now is, in fact, already starting to be decided by you."
Figures referenced: Tsai Ing-wen. — JudgeMarket.
