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.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS