Taiwan has signed science and technology cooperation agreements with 43 nations and three intergovernmental organizations, a National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) official said on Saturday.
Increasing global awareness of Taiwan’s key role in semiconductor manufacturing has opened doors for the council’s technology diplomacy, enabling the nation to ink state-to-state cooperative agreements, said Tom Yeh (葉至誠), director-general of the council’s Department of International Cooperation and Science Education.
While the council succeeded in signing memorandums of understanding with private entities, foreign capital had been wary of official collaboration for fear of angering Beijing, he said.
Photo courtesy of the National Science and Technology Council
Recent events, including a global chip shortage that gripped the auto industry, have led to a greater appreciation of Taiwan’s importance in the global semiconductor supply chain, he said, adding that a vast majority of countries seeking partnership with the nation wanted chips.
Most countries now understand that they must be as self-sufficient in technology as possible and avoid dependency on competitors or potential adversaries — factors that have bolstered Taiwan’s appeal as a trustworthy partner, Yeh said.
Taking advantage of the situation, Taiwan insisted on using only government-to-government documentation as a condition for cooperation — an approach that has largely succeeded due to the urgent need to secure chip supplies, he said.
Citing an example, Yeh said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently stated that Germany simultaneously recognizes the “one China” policy while maintaining its sovereign right to freely choose diplomatic and technology partners for itself.
The council has signed 134 agreements with foreign states and organizations to date, he said.
Taiwan’s involvement in global science and technology programs includes research projects on semiconductors, lithium batteries, hydrogen energy, low-orbit satellites, auto chips and biomedicine, he said.
They also include its participation last year in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan, APEC Ministerial Meeting on natural disaster prevention and response, and the inaugural Taiwan-US Science and Technology Cooperation Dialogue, Yeh said.
In addition, the National Research Council Canada sent a delegation to Taiwan to mark the 25th anniversary of bilateral scientific exchanges, and discuss earthquake engineering, artificial intelligence and other fields, he said.
Taiwan is a partner to Latvia and Lithuania’s research program on biomedicine and laser technology, the Philippines’ research program on earthquakes and volcanoes, and Australia and Germany’s hydrogen fuel production, transportation and storage research, he said.
The nation’s technology strategy is to leverage its advantages in semiconductors and information technology to support advances in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, aviation and space, precision medicine, sustainable energy and sixth-generation Internet, Yeh said.
The US-China trade and technology war, Europe’s increasing mistrust of Beijing over its support of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the need to de-risk have led major European economic players to look to the Indo-Pacific region for their economic future.
These developments are an opportunity for Taiwan to amplify the advantages it can offer to Central and Eastern European nations as a prosperous and democratic economic partner, academics have said.
As part of its efforts to push science and technology diplomacy, the council also provides subsidies for international research exchanges.
Council statistics showed that the number of foreign researchers recruited to Taiwan over the past 10 years increased from 434 people in 2014 to 768 last year, with total subsidies last year reaching about NT$700 million (US$22.19 million).
The council has also launched programs to subsidize Taiwanese researchers’ studies abroad, such as the Overseas Project for Post Graduate Research program (千里馬計畫), the Partnership Program for Connection to the Top Labs in the World — Dragon Gate Program (龍門計畫) and the Subsidy for Short-Term Research Abroad for Technologists (補助科學與技術人員國外短期研究).
Last year, 318 Taiwanese researchers received about NT$300 million in subsidies through the programs.
“People” are the key to scientific research and development, Yeh said.
About three decades ago, Taiwan was a technology importer, with many Taiwanese leaving for studies in the US and returning to Taiwan to contribute to society what they have learned, he said.
Today Taiwan has become a technology exporter, he said.
However, he also expressed concern that with many young people choosing to study at local universities and given the high demand for talent in the local tech industry, these young people might “lack an international perspective.”
As such, the council still encourages them to explore abroad, while also inviting foreign experts to Taiwan for further exchanges, he said.
To expand the international experience of Taiwanese doctoral students, the council is offering subsidies for an additional 200 people who wish to study in Central and East Europe in select fields, Yeh said.
To stabilize domestic research capacity, the approval number and salaries for postdoctoral research fellows have been raised by 10 percent to 2,400 people, he said.
Yeh added that while Taiwan faces is facing a low birthrate problem, Southeast Asian countries enjoy a demographic dividend and many doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers are coming to Taiwan, with which they share a closer Asian cultural connection.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS