A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers on Thursday met with US officials in Washington to discuss several issues, including the flow of chips made in Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said.
The delegation met with officials of the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, accompanied by Ingrid Larson, the managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Washington office.
The bureau voiced concern about possible “origin washing” of Chinese products and Taiwan’s high-end chips reaching third parties restricted by the US through illicit means, Wang said after the meeting.
Photo: CNA
The Taiwanese delegation proposed law enforcement cooperation to tackle that problem, he said, adding that Taiwan’s exclusion from Interpol put it at a disadvantage and made it hard to track users who acquire their chips through indirect means.
Acknowledging the need to prevent Taiwanese chips from reaching China, he said that while it is a business issue for the US, Taiwan is concerned its chips might end up with a “third party aiming missiles at our country.”
He cited as an example a possible breach of US export controls by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), after a chip it made ended up in an artificial intelligence processor produced by Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co, a Reuters report on April 8 said.
TSMC could face a penalty of US$1 billion or more to settle the case, the report said.
The delegation also met with former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in the day.
“As Beijing’s threats grow louder, our support for Taiwan’s security, economy and democracy is unwavering,” Pelosi wrote on social media after the meeting.
Their visit to Washington coincided with the stepping down of Mike Waltz as US national security adviser.
Waltz was later nominated as the ambassador to the UN by US President Donald Trump.
The delegation’s leader, Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that Taiwan-US ties would remain stable despite the changes, adding that the US Congress maintains a unanimous stance on Taiwan.
While the administrations of Trump and former US president Joe Biden might differ in their approaches, their overall position toward Taiwan remains consistent, he said.
Waltz would still be able to deal with issues involving Taiwan if he takes on the role as the UN ambassador, Chiang said.
The delegation of lawmakers also includes Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) and Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) of the KMT, Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) of the Taiwan People’s Party, and Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Ngalim Tiunn (張雅琳) of the DPP.
In addition the the US Department of Commerce, they have visited the intelligence, foreign affairs and armed services committees of the US Congress, the US-Taiwan Business Council, the Heritage Foundation think tank and former AIT chair Laura Rosenberger.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS