US semiconductor industry leaders yesterday called for Taiwan and the US to sign a free-trade agreement and for Taiwan to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
More than 100 Taiwanese and US semiconductor industry leaders and government officials joined a virtual meeting, which included “prominent” officials from US President Joe Biden’s administration, the ministry said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told reporters in Taipei yesterday that she would not name the US officials out of a “longstanding mutual understanding.”
Photo: CNA
“Today’s meeting was mainly between industry leaders in the Taiwanese and US semiconductor supply chains,” Wang said.
On the US side, participants included Qualcomm, Corning, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and the Semiconductor Industry Foundation.
Representatives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — the world’s biggest contract chipmaker — SEMI (a Taiwanese semiconductor industry association) and other companies and associations also participated.
TSMC general counsel Sylvia Fang (方淑華) and United Microelectronics (聯電) chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) were among the participants.
The attendees pushed for closer cooperation between the two nations, Wang said.
“The word that came up over and over again is ‘interdependence,’” Wang said. “US and Taiwanese semiconductor supply chains rely on each other.”
“On the US side, it was suggested that Taiwan and the US should sign a free-trade agreement to deepen our cooperation,” Wang said.
“They would also like to see Taiwan and [South] Korea join the CPTPP, as well as the US,” she added.
She said that they want the US to push for an information-technology agreement within the WTO, which would “further reduce tariffs on semiconductors.”
TSMC also presented its plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Arizona, she said.
The meeting, which was conducted through videoconferencing, was the first supply chain cooperation meeting held by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US and the American Institute in Taiwan, Wang said, adding that more would follow.
A shortage of chips used in auto production was not a main topic at the meeting, she said.
However, the US relayed its thanks to Taiwanese chipmakers for agreeing to give automotive chips priority to try to ease the shortage, she added.
“Industry leaders and government officials thanked Taiwan for our help with regard to auto chips,” Wang said.
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
SECURITY CONCERNS: An FBI agent said it was surprising that the shooter, whose motive remains unknown, was able to open fire before the Secret Service killed him On the heels of an apparent attempt to kill him, former US president Donald Trump yesterday called for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide recoiled from the shooting that left him injured, but “fine,” and the shooter and a rally-goer dead. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place,” he