Taiwan is willing and able to boost cooperation with democratic partners and build sustainable chains for “democracy chips” to safeguard common values and create prosperity, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told visiting Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, whose delegation yesterday signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on economic cooperation and trade relations between Taiwan and Indiana.
“Presently, we are facing the continued expansion of global authoritarianism. In the midst of this, Taiwan has been confronted by the military threat from China in and around the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai told Holcomb and his delegation at the Presidential Office.
“Indiana and Taiwan enjoy a long-standing bond. It is Taiwan’s first sister state, and our people engage in very close interactions... Building on our existing foundation of collaboration, I look forward to supporting one another, advancing hand in hand, forging closer relationships and creating even deeper cooperation,” she said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Tsai said that Holcomb’s first-time visit to Taiwan is significant, as he is the first US governor to visit Taiwan since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan and the US are democratic, freedom-loving partners and key security and economic allies in the Indo-Pacific region, she said.
The Taiwan-US relationship has reached new heights in the past few years, as evidenced by visits by delegations led by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey this month, Tsai said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The prospect of staunch US support enables Taiwan to further deepen cooperation between the two countries in a range of fields, she said.
US President Joe Biden on Aug. 6 signed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, which seeks to promote semiconductor research, development and production, and bolster supply chain security, she said.
With the passage of the act, Indiana stands to become a center for emerging technology within the US semiconductor industry, while Purdue University, an important academic institution in the state, has established an institute for technology diplomacy and a semiconductor degree program, Tsai said.
She commented on the delegation’s itinerary in Taiwan, which includes meetings with leaders of high-tech companies, and the signing of MOUs on Purdue University’s academic exchanges with and National Yangming Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University.
“These developments align perfectly with those in Taiwan. Our semiconductor industry plays a key role in global supply chains. We have worked with universities to establish four major semiconductor academies to develop the next generation of high-tech talent,” she said.
Holcomb said the bond between Taiwan and Indiana has grown stronger over the years, and is as strong as “Indiana limestone.”
“Because we share so many common values, interests and goals, there are more opportunities ahead of us... As our economies grow and grow together, we will continue to seek to build strategic partnerships with you,” he said.
Indiana is a leader in terms of foreign direct investment in the US, with 10 Taiwanese companies being part of that investment portfolio, Holcomb said.
The latest company to invest in Indiana is Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which in June announced that it would establish a chip design center in West Lafayette, he said.
“Indiana’s commitment of building a resilient economy of the future starts with strengthening this very bond between both of us and our shared values,” Holcomb said.
“It is a timeless truth that who your partnership with matters. With partners like Taiwan, I am confident together we will continue to innovate our way into the future, present global solution and conduct ground-breaking research necessary to propel us all forward,” he said.
The delegation later yesterday signed two MOUs in a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
One was signed by Holcomb and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) to facilitate economic cooperation and trade between Taiwan and Indiana.
The other, which aims to expedite industry-university collaboration, was signed by Taiwanese electronic device maker Wistron Corp (緯創) chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘) and acting dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University Mark Lundstrom.
The Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue and the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade show that Taipei and Washington are deepening their economic and trade partnership, Chen said.
The MOUs provide a basis for partnership between Taiwan and Indiana, and hopefully both can maintain the growth momentum and make progress in the fields of semiconductors, microelectronics and biological sciences, he said.
Asked if he is concerned that his visit would aggravate China, Holcomb said that the US has a federal system and he can only speak for the nearly 7 million residents of Indiana.
He would not comment on or intervene in foreign affairs, he said.
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