Washington’s top Taiwan affairs official last week affirmed Taiwan’s “leading role” in the global high-tech industry during a forum on bilateral business collaboration.
Continued development of trade relations between Taiwan and the US would strengthen supply chain resiliency in response to the Chinese economic threat, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China, Taiwan and Mongolia Rick Waters said in a recorded address in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday.
Waters was speaking at the Taiwan-US Business Roundtable Forum in the Midwest, held for the first time in Ohio.
Photo: Still frame grab from the recorded speech
Themed “Innovation and High-tech Global Supply Chains,” this year’s edition of the forum was jointly organized by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, JobsOhio, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Taiwan Trade Center of Chicago.
Considering Ohio’s importance in manufacturing and the automobile industry, participants in the two panels discussed high-tech supply chains and how to enhance economic partnerships on innovative technologies such as chip design and electric vehicles.
In attendance were Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴); Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted; US Representative Steve Chabot, who is a founding cochair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus; Ohio Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer Steve Stivers; and a variety of business representatives.
Standing in for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Waters hailed recent developments in Taiwan-US trade cooperation, including the second Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue held in November last year and the resumption of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks.
Especially in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the need for like-minded partners such as Taiwan and the US to work together to address the dangers of authoritarianism is greater than ever, he said.
In his address, Stivers brought up Intel’s planned US$20 billion investment to make Ohio a regional hub for semiconductor manufacturing, a sector in which Taiwan is a top player.
Nations with similar ideals should work together to create mutual economic and technological benefits, he said, while other speakers called for Taiwan’s inclusion in the US’ proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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