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.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
RSS