Former president Lee Teng-hui (
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) will propose next Tuesday at the legislature to postpone the relaxation of the restriction.
They said approval for building eight-inch wafer plants in China should be delayed until 12-inch wafer technology is more mature.
Heated debate has been taking place in political and industrial circles over whether the government will allow Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
During his visit yesterday to a technology company in Taoyuan, Lee warned Taiwanese businessmen not to focus their investments in China on the grounds that they may be sacrificed in the event China attacks Taiwan.
Ever critical of growing "China fever" among industrial tycoons, Lee said he was apprehensive about their excessive reliance on the Chinese market.
According to Lee, investment in China accounts for 19.6 percent of the country's total investment overseas, and called on businessmen not to put "all their eggs in one basket."
Lee said the Chinese government has never retracted its threat to take Taiwan by force, and that because of this, Taiwanese businessmen should put Taiwan's interests and national security above their own financial interests.
Lee also said that when prominent businessmen speak out in favor of China, the end result is to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty.
The TSU will raise a motion at the legislature next Tuesday to persuade the government to postpone the request.
TSU lawmaker Lin Chih-lung (
He said it took Taiwan 25 years to develop such state-of-the-art technology, and that it would be to the nation's extreme disadvantage to give away Taiwan's collective wisdom and finest products to a rival.
Lin said the demand should be postponed until 12-inch chipmaking technology is mature,
The successful rate for 12-inch wafer production is only 50 percent, while that of eight-inch wafers reaches 95 percent, Lin said.
He added that what Taiwan will lose is not just chipmaking plants, but through a domino effect, packing and testing facilities will also have to move to China.
"One of the company managers at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park told me that the industrial park will be a `dead city' if TSMC and UMC are permitted to construct factories in China," the lawmaker said.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS