A US senator who sponsored the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act yesterday said that he planned to learn more about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and promote closer links between the countries during his three-day trip to Taiwan.
US Senator Todd Young said during his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that his visit from Monday to today had several purposes, including to show the US Congress’ bipartisan support for Taiwan.
Young said that as one of the sponsors of the CHIPS act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law last year to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors and counter China, he wanted to learn more about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
Photo: CNA
“I am here to learn how to continue do that [chip cooperation], sell more chips, and hire more people and [promote] more linkages between the US and Taiwan and other countries moving forward. That will benefit all of us,” he said.
Todd also said that his home state of Indiana had maintained a close friendship with Taiwan for decades. Its capital, Indianapolis, established a sister-city relationship with Taipei in 1978 before the state formed a “sisterhood” with Taiwan in 1979.
Indiana was the first US state to forge a sister relationship with Taiwan.
Recently, Indiana and Taiwan have signed agreements to promote academic research in semiconductors, he added.
The Republican senator said that while Americans have different views on a lot of issues, there was bipartisan support for Taiwan.
“Make no mistake, there is something Republicans and Democrats alike are unified on and will be unified. That is the importance of supporting the US-Taiwan relationship and holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable,” he said, without clarifying his remark about China.
Tsai welcomed the visit by Young, who is the first US senator to travel to the country in the new US congressional session.
She praised him for being one of Taiwan’s strongest supporters in the US Congress by backing Taiwan’s international participation and being a key architect of the CHIPS act.
“Facing authoritarian expansion and post-COVID-19-pandemic economic challenges, like-minded partners need to build a sustainable supply chain for democracy chips. This will help Taiwanese, the US and global economies continue to prosper and develop,” she said.
Tsai also called on Young to advocate for the possible signing of a Taiwan-US agreement on double taxation to create more opportunities for companies from both sides to engage in exchanges.
Young arrived late on Monday as part of a larger trip to the Indo-Pacific region.
During his stay, he was to meet with senior leaders and private-sector representatives to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains and other significant issues of mutual interest, the American Institute in Taiwan said.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS