Tokyo’s support for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) wafer fabs in Kumamoto Prefecture bears “tremendous significance” on future industrial partnerships between the two countries, Vice President and president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai made the remarks during a meeting with Tsuneo Kitamura and Iwao Horii, two lawmakers in Japan’s House of Councilors, at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
With TSMC’s first fab scheduled to open on Saturday, Lai thanked the Japanese government and parliament for their support, which allowed the fab to be completed in one year and eight months.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Taiwan’s largest contract chipmaker earlier this month announced that it is building a second fab in the prefecture, Lai added.
“We believe these projects bear tremendous significance in terms of future industrial partnerships between the two countries and how we can jointly face the challenges and opportunities presented by the ‘smart era,’” he said.
Other Taiwanese semiconductor firms, such as United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), are also investing in Japan, and should also find great support from Japanese officials and lawmakers, he said.
Kitamura and Horii have been paying attention to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and, with their extensive experience, should contribute greatly to issues relating to defense, national security and diplomacy, he added.
Taiwan will continue to need the support of the two Japanese lawmakers to help maintain peace and stability in the region, he said.
“Taiwan on Jan. 13 accomplished a historic mission, with the people using their vote in the presidential election to decide the direction that the nation is heading. They decided to continue on the path to democracy and the world to make Taiwan stronger,” Lai said.
“I hope that Taiwan and Japan can build on their foundation and bolster ties through various types of partnerships,” he added.
Kitamura told Lai that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had promoted an Indo-Pacific strategy that values freedom and liberal democracy.
Taiwan and Japan need to work more closely together on security, economics, trade, tourism exchange and social welfare issues, with economic and trade relations between the two countries being the most important, Kitamura said.
“We hope that Vice President Lai, as an old friend of Japan, will continue to promote exchanges among the two nations’ lawmakers once you are sworn in as president. Under your leadership, the exchanges and partnerships between Japan and Taiwan will continue to develop and move forward through the work of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association and the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association,” Kitamura said.
Aside from thanking President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Lai for conveying their condolences on the death of Abe’s mother, Kitamura also thanked them for expressing their sympathies to people affected by a series of earthquakes on the Noto Peninsula, as well as for the generous donations from Taiwanese.
The donations during such a difficult time again showed that Taiwan and Japan are true friends, he added.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) met in Beijing yesterday, where they vowed to bring people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait closer to facilitate the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The meeting was held in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for meetings between Xi and foreign heads of state. In public remarks prior to a closed-door meeting, Xi, in his role as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said that Taiwan is historically part of China, and remains an “inalienable” and
RSS