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.
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