If Taiwan were attacked, the global economy would face devastation, as that is where most of the world’s semiconductors are produced, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
In an interview that aired on the 60 Minutes television program, Blinken was asked whether instability across the Taiwan Strait would be felt around the world.
Blinken said that China has been increasingly aggressive against Taiwan, posing a threat to peace and stability in the region, while economically the world would feel the effects of such aggression.
Photo: screen grab from CBS
Blinken was interviewed for the program after meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday.
The US has invested heavily in its semiconductor capacity, with US firms designing chips that are primarily produced in Taiwan, he said.
“Taiwan itself, were anything to happen, it is where virtually all the semiconductors are made,” Blinken said. “If that’s disrupted, the effects that that would have on the global economy could be devastating.”
In an interview that aired on the previous Sunday on the same program, US President Joe Biden said that the US would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
It was the fourth time Biden implied the US would help Taiwan, although each time it has been followed by a clarification from administration officials who seemed to walk back his comments.
When Blinken was asked whether Wang requested clarification of Biden’s remarks when they met, he said they had a conversion about the two approaches toward Taiwan.
“I reiterated what the president has said, and what he’s said clearly and consistently — our continued adherence to the ‘one China’ policy, our determination that the differences be resolved peacefully,” Blinken said.
“Our insistence that peace and stability be maintained in the Taiwan Strait, and our deep concern that China was taking actions to try to change that status quo. That’s what the issue is,” he said.
The US has over the past few decades maintained a stance characterized as “strategic ambiguity” regarding whether it would aid Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack by China.
Washington has traditionally been deliberately vague about whether the US would do more than provide Taiwan with weapons, as per the Taiwan Relations Act, and send troops to fight China.
The act became law in 1979 to maintain commercial, cultural and other unofficial relations between the US and Taiwan after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The act requires the US to “provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character.”
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS