Local solar product manufacturers have said that their businesses are at risk if the government does not crack down on illegal solar modules made with cheap cells from China. Last year, solar panels imported through a third country were used in about 30 percent of solar installations, indicating that the government’s efforts to seize illegal solar products were ineffective. That could add to roadblocks in the country’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 2050.
Two gigawatts of solar systems were deployed in Taiwan last year. About 0.6 gigawatts of that power came from solar panels imported through third countries, primarily Southeast Asian nations, industry sources said.
Local solar companies said that it is impossible to compete with those imports, as they were 10 to 30 percent cheaper than domestic products, making them extremely attractive to solar energy developers. The wide price gaps mean that the government’s 6 percent increase in feed-in tariffs for adopting Taiwan-made solar panels is unlikely to spur domestic purchases.
It is highly suspicious that those third-country solar modules were equipped with Chinese solar cells, as China’s major solar companies have allocated their production to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand or Malaysia to leverage cheap labor in those countries. That shift came as a result of rising Chinese labor costs and stricter environmental rules in China.
Chinese manufacturers of solar cells are under pressure to find a new market after Washington in June last year blocked them from entering the US, to prevent low-cost Chinese products from harming the viability of the US solar supply chain. Analysts believe that Taiwan has become China’s new target market, as the government offers decent tariffs to encourage renewable energy generation.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs last year started requiring importers to submit certificates of origin for solar equipment. Solar energy developers that fail to abide by the requirement could lose their permits to supply electricity.
However, the rules do not stop solar panels made in Southeast Asia from entering Taiwan. During the first 11 months of last year, solar module imports surged 42-fold to a record high from 2021, industry sources said. Even though those imported solar panels were made in Southeast Asia, it is not easy to identify whether the solar cells inside them were made by Chinese companies.
With few effective methods to safeguard their interests and profits, some solar companies have considered slowing their local investment or capacity expansion and scouting overseas sites. One local solar company has said it has delayed new investment in manufacturing next-generation solar products in Taiwan because the market cannot afford the more expensive devices.
Price competition could intensify this year, as the US considers more restrictions on Chinese solar imports.
Taiwan is heavily reliant on energy imports. A slowdown in solar investment would imperil the country’s goal of reaching zero carbon emissions by 2050. The government’s plan requires energy from renewable sources, particularly solar energy, which is to make up a big portion of Taiwan’s energy supply over the next few years.
Realistically, the government should step up its crackdown on the illegal use of Chinese solar cells, allowing local solar companies to grow with the country’s energy transformation. Solar companies have to do their best to improve manufacturing costs and shrink the gap with their Chinese rivals.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
RSS