Taiwan must remain independent and democratic, Robert Tsao (曹興誠), founder and former chairman of contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), told an event in Hsinchu City yesterday.
In a speech titled “Taiwan’s bright future,” he said that people might feel depressed amid China’s pressure campaign against Taiwan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation and the current soft stock market.
However, the future of the world is bright, he said.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
The economies of many countries are growing exponentially, there is increasingly less poverty and life expectancy is rising in many countries, while the infant mortality rate is improving, he said, citing data from popular science author Steven Pinker‘s book Enlightenment Now.
Taiwan “must maintain its independence and follow the spirit of Enlightenment Now,” he said.
Protests over an extradition bill in Hong Kong made him realize that “China is a gangster,” he said, adding that everyone should unite to defend Taiwan against China.
A survey conducted by the Guardian showed that half of the respondents believed that other countries should help Taiwan if China attempts to annex it by force, which indicated that China has stirred up hatred against itself across the globe, he said.
“Supporting Taiwan’s independence is befriending the world, while supporting Taiwan’s unification [with China] is making an enemy of the world,” he said.
There are five important values of enlightenment: humanitarianism, rationality and science, technology and industry, wealth created by the division of labor based on expertise, and global trade growth driven by the mechanism of the market, he said.
“Democracy protects human rights,” he said.
While some entrepreneurs believe that “we cannot live on democracy alone,” Tsao said he believes that “life without democracy is difficult to live.”
He implemented the concept of division of labor in the foundry business in 1984, dividing the production of chips into designing, manufacturing and packaging, which contributed to Taiwan’s success in the semiconductor industry, he said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS