BEIJING: From seizing Taiwan’s high-end manufacturing industry and coercing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to advocating Taiwan’s “decoupling” with the Chinese mainland and working out a “trade initiative” that benefits only the US, Washington has firmly taken grip over the mind of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan when it comes to DPP authorities “soliciting US support for ‘Taiwan independence,’” while at the same time hollowing out Taiwan region’s economy, and making the island a complete pawn to serve the US’ interests in containing the Chinese mainland.
Taiwan regional authorities’ top trade negotiator on Friday held a virtual meeting with Deputy US Trade Representative (USTR) Sarah Bianchi, exchanging information on the two sides’ preparations to implement the first agreement signed under the “Initiative on 21st Century Trade,” according to Taiwan media.
However, analysts are not optimistic that a US-led pact will bring tangible benefits to Taiwan’s flagging economy.
Analysts said the DPP authorities, in order to advance secessionism, have been colluding with the US in containing Chinese mainland and poisoning the cross-Taiwan Straits relations, which is the root cause of Taiwan’s current economic turmoil. Given that the mainland is Taiwan’s largest export market and the largest source of trade surplus, when cross-Straits relations further deteriorate, it will be even harder for the Taiwan region to emerge from its current predicament.
Mark Liu, chairman of TSMC, said in an interview with the New York Times published on Friday that it would be exceedingly difficult to replicate what TSMC has built in Taiwan. Developing and producing the company’s most cutting-edge chips at a rapid pace requires a huge effort, he said, as many as 3,000 research scientists for one generation of the technology. “We cannot put it anyplace else.”
Liu also rejected the idea of the “silicon shield” hyped by some Westerners and Taiwan secessionists: That Taiwan’s chip-making prowess deters military action by the Chinese mainland and brings support from the United States. Both need Taiwan’s chips.
The TSMC chairman said the issue of semiconductors is not the key factor in deciding whether the Chinese mainland would reunify the island with force. “It is really up to the US and China: How do they maintain the status quo, and what both sides want?”
Experts said some Western media or politicians who care about only resources and economic interests will never accurately understand the Chinese people’s determination of national reunification, as it’s always about sovereignty and overall national security and interests.
A Beijing-based expert on Taiwan studies who asked for anonymity said it would be naive and ignorant to believe that a sci-tech company or even an industry can become “a hostage to shelter the Taiwan secessionists and foreign intervention forces and let them separate the island from China forever.” –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
