Taiwan has asked to join discussions centered on China’s protest against US semiconductor sanctions at the WTO, seeking a voice in a debate that could have ramifications for the global chip industry.
Taipei has formally requested a seat at the table when consultations begin, based on the outsized role it plays in global chipmaking, the government said in a statement filed at the WTO.
China filed a dispute with the WTO in an effort to overturn US-imposed export controls, which aim to limit its ability to develop a domestic semiconductor industry and equip its military.
Photo: Reuters
Beijing accused Washington of economic protectionism, undermining trade rules and jeopardizing the global supply chain.
The US has pressured allies from Seoul to Tokyo to go along with the restrictions on China.
Taipei’s goal in seeking to join the WTO negotiations is to better understand how the dispute might affect global semiconductors, the Office of Trade Negotiations said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan produces the vast majority of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, and its largest companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), have abided by the US curbs.
“Taiwan is requesting to join the consultation procedure to understand the supply-demand situation of chips,” the agency said.
The nation has no intention of supporting China’s complaint, nor does the move imply “any dissatisfaction with the United States’ measures,” it added.
US trade officials said they plan to travel to Taipei for trade talks later this month.
Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the US in tightening controls over the export of advanced chip tech to China, and they are likely to adopt at least some of the sweeping measures rolled out in October to restrict the sale of equipment to Chinese firms.
However, even if China is successful with its case, the WTO lacks the ability to force the US to reverse its actions. Coupled with domestic economic turmoil, the curbs have hobbled a plethora of China’s biggest chip firms.
China’s semiconductor firms are facing new challenges at home with Beijing now shying away from lavishing them with colossal resources, as was done in the past.
It is pausing massive chip investments as a nationwide COVID-19 resurgence strains the world’s No. 2 economy and Beijing’s finances, and top officials are discussing alternatives to costly subsidies that have not rendered concrete results, but instead encouraged graft and the US sanctions.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS