Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead.
Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei.
In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between the people of Taiwan and the US.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The relationship has stood the test of time, unchanged through many US administrations, he said.
Greene said his priorities as AIT director are security, resilience and connection, and that his recent trip to the US was part of fulfilling those goals, particularly by working to further bolster economic ties between Taiwan and the US.
Greene said he was honored to attend this year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit during his trip to the US — a key US government initiative to promote foreign direct investment — adding that he was proud to see more than 180 representatives from 130 Taiwanese companies participate.
The SelectUSA Investment Summit is a prime example of international cooperation, facilitating mutual economic growth, strengthening global supply chain resilience and ensuring the technology ecosystem’s long-term stability, Greene said.
In addition to visiting Washington, Greene said the AIT coordinated visits for Taiwanese business groups to various US regions based on their areas of interest, including artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and drone technologies.
The three industries — AI, semiconductors and drones — are critically important, as they align with the AIT’s mission to promote security and resilience, as well as that of US President Donald Trump’s administration to make the US and Taiwan stronger, safer and more prosperous, he added.
As this year marks the 46th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said the AIT is confident that continued efforts to secure supply chains in critical industries, bolster societal resilience through cooperation and deepen partnerships through two-way investment would ensure the peace maintained over the past 45 years would extend to the next 45 years and longer.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) also attended the forum.
Chu in his address said that national security encompasses national defense, cross-strait relations, economics, energy, technological and social issues.
The KMT caucus would propose legislation aimed at modernizing national defense, and there should be a special statute for allocating special defense budgets, he said, adding that increasing defense spending is a common demand from the world, and it protects Taiwan’s safety.
However, the expanded defense budget should not only be limited to military procurement, but should also be used to strengthen homeland defense resilience, bolster social security systems and invest in talent cultivation.
Chu said that aside from the declining birthrate, a major crisis facing Taiwan is the low willingness among young people to join the military.
Without the government allocating more resources to improve the welfare of military personnel, even fewer people would join the military, he said.
Hsu in his speech said that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are essential to global security and development, adding that Taiwan should use its strategic geopolitical position within the first island chain, along with its leading role in semiconductors and information and communications technology, to advance the nation’s best interests.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS