Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday.
Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California.
“Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks.
Photo: CNA
Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), Certified Public Accountant Harry Lin (林清吉) and US Representative Jay Obernolte also attended the talk.
“Taiwanese have been calling Southern California their home for decades, starting businesses, creating jobs and building strong communities,” Kim said.
“As chairwoman of the [US] House [of Representatives] Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, Taiwan has been a focal point of our work,” she said.
Despite being governed democratically by Taiwanese, the nation faces constant economic and military coercion from the Chinese Communist Party, she said.
The Chinese military holds regular drills around the Taiwan Strait, apparently as preparation for a military conflict or blockade of Taiwan, she said.
“Although 7,000 miles [11,265km] away, Taiwan is not an ‘over there’ problem,” she said. “Some estimates suggest that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would cost the global economy US$10 trillion — a larger impact than the 2008 Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
As a high-tech economy, California in particular would be affected negatively by a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, she said, adding that comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) suggest such an invasion is possible by as soon as 2027.
Kim said that during a previous visit to Taiwan, she asked a representative of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co what would happen if Taiwan were to be blockaded by China, and was told that the global economy would shut down.
Taiwan is the origin of more than 90 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductors, which are used in many products, including mobile phones, TVs, microwave ovens and cars, used daily by US citizens, she said.
“Foreign policy is not something that only concerns Washington DC — it concerns every American,” she said.
Kim said she has expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including the WHO and the IMF, and has urged the US government to ensure that weapons purchased by Taiwan were delivered on time.
Taiwan pays billions of dollars for weapons, which the US must continue to provide it with, according to the stipulations of its Taiwan Relations Act, she said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS