Taiwan is eager to bolster cooperation with the US as the global supply chain undergoes restructuring, especially in the areas of semiconductors, communications, artificial intelligence (AI), green energy and precision healthcare, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday at a weekly Cabinet meeting.
His remarks followed a report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Taiwan-US partnerships in an era of global supply chain restructuring.
He instructed the ministry and other agencies to promote economic dialogue with the US, and to make concrete plans to achieve cooperation in strategic areas.
Photo: CNA
The US Department of State on Aug. 31 announced that the US and Taiwan would launch an Economic and Commercial Dialogue to be led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach, and “preparatory talks” were held during the undersecretary’s two-day visit last month.
Su said that the deepening of Taiwan-US economic ties and reorganization of the global supply chain are two of the government’s most important policy goals.
He highlighted four strategic areas: semiconductors, communications, AI and other cutting-edge technologies; green energy and innovative industries; healthcare industries; and development of the global market.
Cooperation would enormously benefit the two nations, Su said, citing estimates by industry experts that these areas would help the US to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in additional value, as well as hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of job opportunities.
Stepping up economic cooperation has become a hot topic in Taiwan and the US, Su said, adding that several US lawmakers, government departments and business groups have called on US President Donald Trump’s administration to initiate bilateral trade agreement negotiations with Taiwan.
These voices in the US not only reflect the extensive support that the US has for Taiwan in the public and private sectors, but also highlights that Taiwan-US economic cooperation is a mutually beneficial matter, he said.
If Taiwan’s advantages in semiconductor manufacturing were further enhanced by the US’ capabilities in technology and research and development — through trade, investment and the reorganization of the global supply chain — huge economic benefits could be expected, he said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) plans to set up factories in the US are a textbook example of such strategic cooperation, he added.
A rapidly changing global economic and trade environment has made supply chain reorganization an unstoppable trend, Su said, adding that this is the best time for Taiwan and the US to bolster economic ties.
Deepening Taiwan-US cooperation would not only help the US to achieve its goal of “bringing manufacturing back to the US,” it would also consolidate Taiwan’s position in the global supply chain, he said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
RSS