European countries should strengthen relations with Taiwan if they want continued Taiwanese investment in semiconductor production, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said during a visit to Europe last week.
Overseas investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, need government approval, including for a potential factory in Germany.
The government is not placing conditions on investments by TSMC and it is for the company to decide whether a project would make a profit, Wu said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan would not block investment in Europe, but there is a “philosophical issue” with a country wanting Taiwanese help, and it needs to consider the broader picture of relations with Taiwan, he said.
“Even though we are not selfish in stopping TSMC making investments in other countries, we certainly hope that other countries who want to attract TSMC ... can also think about the situation Taiwan is in,” he said.
“If they can think along that positive line, the relations between Taiwan and European countries, major European countries, are going to be so much better than before,” Wu said.
He asked not to disclose the country he was in, due to the sensitivity of his trip.
Taiwan has no formal diplomatic ties with any European country except the Vatican, and China warned Europe against official ties ahead of Wu’s visit.
Wu visited the Czech Republic and traveled to Brussels.
EU leaders were clearer than before in calling for peace and preserving the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, he said, adding that the bloc should consider more cooperation with Taiwan, such as a bilateral investment agreement (BIA).
The EU included Taiwan on its list of potential BIA partners in 2015, but it has not held talks with the nation on the issue since.
“It’s very challenging,” Wu said, adding that he was concerned it was being held hostage due to a frozen EU-China investment deal.
“We hope we can go ahead with it and we hope we can persuade the EU leadership to think about this in a positive way,” he said.
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