Politics

Taiwan seeks deeper semiconductor ties with US

Beijing, Sep 1 (EFE).- Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen Thursday called for more cooperation with the United States on producing semiconductors that are facing a global downturn amid a tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

Tsai met Doug Ducey, the governor of Arizona, who arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday to encourage semiconductor suppliers to invest in the American state.

During her meeting with Ducey, the president expressed her desire to produce “democracy chips” jointly with the US.

“In the face of authoritarian expansionism and the challenges of the post-pandemic era, Taiwan seeks to bolster cooperation with the US in the semiconductor and other high-tech industries,” Tsai said at the meeting in Taipei.

“(It) will help build more secure and more resilient supply chains. We look forward to jointly producing democracy chips to safeguard the interests of our democratic partners and create greater prosperity.”

The Taiwanese president hoped the island would accelerate economic cooperation with the US.

Ducey said Arizona and Taiwan, the “world leaders in the semiconductor sector,” had common economic strengths.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), a major Apple supplier and the largest contract chipmaker is constructing a $12 billion plant in Arizona.

“TSMC’s legacy investment has elevated the potential for what is possible between Arizona and Taiwan,” Ducey said.

The Republican governor recalled he gave the green light last month to set up an Arizona commercial office in Taiwanese territory.

Ducey is the latest in a list of US officials to visit Taiwan in defiance of protests from China.

Tsai said the visits in succession by the American officials, including by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August, “have strengthened relations” between the island and the US.”

The visits have angered China which claims Taiwan as its territory.

Beijing considers the island a rebel province since Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the Communists. EFE

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