Taiwan looks forward to helping Europe manufacture its own semiconductors and build secure supply chains, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said on Friday at a German National Day event in Taipei.
At the event, officials from Taiwan and Germany lauded the beginning of construction of a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) semiconductor fab in the German city of Dresden.
The plant broke ground at the end of August.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“We are pleased that our countries are entering a new stage of trade and technology cooperation,” Wu said, adding that total trade between Taiwan and Germany last year exceeded US$22 billion, making Germany Taiwan’s largest EU trading partner.
Beyond trade and economics, Taiwan and Germany share the values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights, Wu said.
He also commended the passage of German warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sept. 13, the first time in 22 years, adding that such transits demonstrate Germany’s “determination to defend international law and the freedom of navigation.”
There is “comprehensive interest in Berlin” to expand exchanges between Germany and Taiwan in many different fields, German Institute Taipei Director-General Jorg Polste said.
Collaborations between Germany and Taiwan have gone beyond semiconductors. TSMC’s investment has paved the way for more joint research and academic cooperation between the two sides, he added.
The German state of Saxony inaugurated a training program this year that allows university students from Dresden University of Technology to come to Taiwan for six months to study at National Taiwan University and receive training at TSMC facilities.
More Taiwanese universities have become partners of the program and would begin receiving German students soon, including National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University.
In a pre-recorded video, Saxony State Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow recalled living in East Germany as a child under communist rule, and later experiencing the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany one year later.
Gemkow said he is “fortunate” to live in a free country and “the creative power” nurtured in a free society allows for the flourishing collaborations and partnerships between Taiwan and Germany today.
German National Day, also known as German Unity Day, is observed annually on Oct. 3 to mark the reunification of Germany in 1990.
The German Institute Taipei represents Berlin’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations between the two sides.
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