Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that national security concerns and economic competitiveness have smothered globalization as the US-China trade dispute pans out.
Chang made the remark during a speech on globalization at the Taipei-based Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce.
“The world has redefined globalization as allowing domestic companies to make profits abroad, and allowing foreign industries and services to enter the home country without harming its national security and [its] current or future technological and economic leadership,” Chang said, asking the audience if globalization can stay alive under the circumstances.
Photo: CNA
The 91-year-old industry veteran had earlier pronounced globalization “dead” amid the US-China technology competition.
Chang defined globalization as a period when countries endeavored to pursue profit and undertook commercial risks, regardless of borders.
Experts and academics at the time viewed the world as “flat” and the trend reached the optimal state in 2010, still far from the peak, Chang said.
Globalization had positive influences — such as lifting billions of people out of poverty and improving the average standard of living in almost every country, Chang said.
However, it also had negative effects, such as worsening the imbalanced distribution of wealth, he said.
Decades ago, a CEO at his former employer Texas Instruments could receive US$16 million upon retirement, but today CEOs earn more than that in a single month, widening the income gap among ranks, Chang said.
At the same time, globalization weakened the middle class in many countries by eliminating jobs, he said, adding that US steel, auto and garment makers moved their manufacturing facilities overseas, leaving many unable to share the benefits of globalization.
Globalization has led to a Thucydides trap, an apparent tendency toward war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon, Chang said, referring to China and the US.
The US has introduced trade restrictions against China to secure its own military and economic leadership, while seeking to weaken its rivals’ competitiveness, which is at odds with globalization, he said.
Globalization is built on the foundation of the division of labor in line with comparative advantages among players who cooperate, but national security and economic and technology leadership have taken precedence over other concerns, Chang said.
That explains why the US and China have assigned more importance to competition than cooperation, he said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS