Taiwan and the EU should sign a long-stalled investment agreement if Europe wants long-term investment from the nation, Taiwan’s top trade negotiator said yesterday as the bloc courts tech firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build factories there.
Taiwan has repeatedly called for progress on a bilateral investment agreement (BIA) with the EU.
The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential deal in 2015, but it has not held talks with Taipei on the issue since.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The EU has been courting Taiwan, a major chip producer, as one of the “like-minded” partners it would like to work with under the European Chips Act to encourage more semiconductor production in Europe and lessen dependence on Asia, despite the lack of formal ties with the nation.
Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan’s top trade representative, said that Europe was “definitely envious” of TSMC’s US$40 billion investment in Arizona, where it plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips, because TSMC was bringing a whole supply chain over with it.
“For Europe, this is not the same scale — it’s individual cases, not on the same level as TSMC” in the US, Deng said.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is in talks over a factory in Germany, which would be its first in Europe, although it would focus on the auto industry and make less-advanced chips.
Taiwan had engaged in lots of dialogue with the EU, but the bloc was resisting establishing a legal framework for investment that would provide “a sense of security” for Taiwanese businesses, Deng said.
“Our argument is that if you want long-term development for the future, a legal framework is very important,” he said. “For example, you want a very large investment for 100 years, 50 years, you don’t want it gone after three years... I think the European Commission needs to be clear on that point.”
Taiwan has also been in talks with Canada for a deal to encourage two-way investment — the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Arrangement — and Deng said he expected something to be signed this year.
He said he hoped that Canadian Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Mary Ng (伍鳳儀) might travel to Taiwan to sign it.
“Taiwan is very hospitable,” Deng said. “If she comes, Taiwan will look after her well.”
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