A US senator who sponsored the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act yesterday said that he planned to learn more about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and promote closer links between the countries during his three-day trip to Taiwan.
US Senator Todd Young said during his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that his visit from Monday to today had several purposes, including to show the US Congress’ bipartisan support for Taiwan.
Young said that as one of the sponsors of the CHIPS act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law last year to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors and counter China, he wanted to learn more about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
Photo: CNA
“I am here to learn how to continue do that [chip cooperation], sell more chips, and hire more people and [promote] more linkages between the US and Taiwan and other countries moving forward. That will benefit all of us,” he said.
Todd also said that his home state of Indiana had maintained a close friendship with Taiwan for decades. Its capital, Indianapolis, established a sister-city relationship with Taipei in 1978 before the state formed a “sisterhood” with Taiwan in 1979.
Indiana was the first US state to forge a sister relationship with Taiwan.
Recently, Indiana and Taiwan have signed agreements to promote academic research in semiconductors, he added.
The Republican senator said that while Americans have different views on a lot of issues, there was bipartisan support for Taiwan.
“Make no mistake, there is something Republicans and Democrats alike are unified on and will be unified. That is the importance of supporting the US-Taiwan relationship and holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable,” he said, without clarifying his remark about China.
Tsai welcomed the visit by Young, who is the first US senator to travel to the country in the new US congressional session.
She praised him for being one of Taiwan’s strongest supporters in the US Congress by backing Taiwan’s international participation and being a key architect of the CHIPS act.
“Facing authoritarian expansion and post-COVID-19-pandemic economic challenges, like-minded partners need to build a sustainable supply chain for democracy chips. This will help Taiwanese, the US and global economies continue to prosper and develop,” she said.
Tsai also called on Young to advocate for the possible signing of a Taiwan-US agreement on double taxation to create more opportunities for companies from both sides to engage in exchanges.
Young arrived late on Monday as part of a larger trip to the Indo-Pacific region.
During his stay, he was to meet with senior leaders and private-sector representatives to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, global supply chains and other significant issues of mutual interest, the American Institute in Taiwan said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
RSS