President William Lai (賴清德) urged Japan to pursue a bilateral trade deal with Taiwan and support Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pact in an interview published in Nikkei Asia today.
As Lai approaches one year in office, he granted his first foreign media interview this year to the Japan-based publication.
Amid US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs and escalating Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, Lai said, “Japan is a powerful nation. I sincerely hope that Japan can take a leading role amid these changes in the international landscape.”
Photo: Taipei Times
Lai said that Taiwan plans to leverage its production and manufacturing capabilities to establish a “non-red” global semiconductor supply chain partnership for democratic countries such as Japan, the US and the Netherlands.
“Japan has materials, equipment and technology, the US has [integrated circuit] (IC) design and marketing, Taiwan has production and manufacturing, and the Netherlands excels in equipment,” he said.
“Over the past few decades, the free economy headed by the Western world and led by the United States has brought economic prosperity and political stability” to Taiwan, he said, adding that not all countries have been “exemplary students.”
Lai said that China is currently the “biggest crisis” to the free-trade system due to plagiarism, counterfeiting, dumping and intellectual property disputes.
“If this kind of unfair trade is not resolved, the stable societies and economic prosperity we have painstakingly built over decades, as well as some of the values we pursue, could be destroyed,” he added.
The US has recently addressed such unfair trade practices and Taiwan would be willing to help, he said.
Regarding intensified Chinese military drills, espionage and “united front” infiltration, Lai said “to defend democracy and sovereignty, protect our free and democratic system and ensure the safety of our people's lives and property, Taiwan's choice is clear.”
Taiwan “must demonstrate the strength of deterrence to prevent China from making the wrong judgment,” he said.
However, he added that “as long as China treats Taiwan with parity and dignity, Taiwan is willing to conduct exchanges and cooperate with China and seek cross-strait peace and mutual prosperity.”
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS