Taiwan and the EU have agreed to collaborate on enhancing semiconductor supply chain resilience by boosting bilateral trade and investment, and deepening research-and-development efforts, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry issued the statement after wrapping up the first ministerial-level talks between Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) and EU Director-General for Trade Sabine Weyand last night.
The meeting represented a major breakthrough in Taiwan’s trade relationship with the EU, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
The semiconductor supply chain issue topped the agenda of the online meeting, as a global chip crunch has taken a toll on auto production and other industries after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March last year upended supply chains and paralyzed logistics.
Taiwan has strived to help its EU allies mitigate chip supply shortages and sent a delegation of semiconductor experts to Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to gain a better understanding of their industrial developments and explore ways to deepen its partnerships with EU nations, the statement said.
“Taiwan will continue playing its role as the world’s trusted partner in the semiconductor industry and assist the world to stabilize supply chain resilience,” Wang said in the statement.
As part of a greater effort to bolster supply chain resilience, Taiwan and the EU also agreed to share information about semiconductor supply chains, the statement said.
New working groups would be formed to discuss details about how to build a resilient semiconductor supply chain and to increase exchanges about trade, investment and other strategic issues, it said.
Aside from discussing trade barriers, Wang and Weyand also delved into the issue of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures related to plant and animal product exports to the EU, it said.
Taiwan also demonstrated its determination to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in 2050, the ministry said.
The EU is the fifth-biggest trade partner of Taiwan, with bilateral trade last year surging 32.55 percent to US$68.7 billion from a year earlier.
BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen through primaries. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) won its first high-profile race with Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) defeating Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) of the DPP with 45.02 percent of the vote to Shen’s 35.68 percent. Voters were choosing more than
UNDETERRED: The US chip designer’s plan showed that Taiwan remains attractive for investment by global companies despite cross-strait tensions, Wang Mei-hua said US graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp is planning to relocate its Hong Kong-based logistics center to Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Wednesday. The government had been in discussions with Nvidia regarding tax incentives to facilitate the move since last year, Wang said in an interview with the Central News Agency, adding that the two sides had reached a consensus. Wang did not provide details about the timetable for the move or the planned tax arrangements for Nvidia. The relocation would boost the local economy, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is a major supplier of graphics processing
Kaohsiung police last week busted a money laundering operation suspected of seeking to interfere in tomorrow’s local elections. The operation was allegedly headed by a man surnamed Lee (李), who had received NT$9.5 billion (US$306.18 million) from China over the past six months, Kaohsiung police said yesterday, adding that Lee’s ring is suspected to be part of a larger Chinese effort to interfere in the elections and support pro-China candidates. Officers arrested Lee, 35, and his girlfriend, searched his mansion, and seized the money he had allegedly received from China and three luxury vehicles, police said. The operation was disguised as an online
CAUTION: Wearing a mask in crowded places and for people with chronic illnesses or allergies can help prevent COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the CECC said The mask mandate for outdoor settings is to lifted on Thursday, and the weekly cap on international inbound travelers is to be removed on Dec. 10, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its regular news conference yesterday. The center also announced that starting from Friday, children aged five to 11 can receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster, and that rules for visiting hospital patients are to be partially eased from Dec. 10. While wearing a mask will no longer be mandatory outdoors, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) reminded the public that it would still be required
RSS