Taiwan’s strategic importance lies in its advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, analysts told a security dialogue held in Taipei on Thursday.
Ivan Kanapathy, a nonresident expert at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that Taiwan produces the world’s most advanced semiconductors, adding that its manufacturing capacity in the sector is dominant.
“That’s why Taiwan matters in this global security context,” said Kanapathy, who served on the US National Security Council from March 2018 to July 2021 under then-US president Donald Trump.
Photo: CNA
While China is trying to challenge Taiwan’s status as a chip manufacturing powerhouse, it is still three to five years behind, he added.
However, South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University academic Kwon Seok-joon said that while Taiwan boasts advanced semiconductor technology, it was not without weaknesses.
While the semiconductor industry is Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” its dominance had been seen by some quarters in the US as “a monopoly,” said Kwon, a chemical engineering professor.
The US government would try to “alleviate this kind of monopoly on chipmaking in Taiwan” by rolling out measures to protect its own industry, he added.
In addition, Taiwan lacks sufficient renewable and carbon-free energy sources that semiconductor and other high-tech companies are increasingly in need of, he said, adding that the nation had placed too much emphasis on fossil fuel-based power.
Taiwan is also vulnerable to natural disasters and geopolitical threats from China, he added.
Meanwhile, some analysts at the event said China would continue to work toward its “rejuvenation,” striving for global dominance, despite facing domestic challenges.
“China is already one of the most influential regional, global players, and, looking into the future ... we will see a China that will continue to seek to increase its influence,” CSIS China affairs researcher Bonny Lin said.
As Beijing views the US as trying to “stir up a conflict in its periphery” and growing instability worldwide, it would prepare itself to do more to protect and advance its interests, Lin said.
In the next 10 to 15 years, Beijing would become “less tolerant” but “more assertive” and “more willing” to use military and other means to protect its national interests, particularly its territorial and sovereignty claims, she said.
China “will still want to achieve its rejuvenation goals” and be able to “lead internationally,” despite its internal problems, including an economic downturn and high unemployment rate, Lin said.
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada research and strategy vice president Vina Nadjibulla said that Beijing’s one key response to what it sees as the US seeking to “suppress” and “contain” it is to build its own international groupings.
She said she disagrees that China is becoming increasingly isolated, arguing it had been trying to “fortify itself from the West” and “fully integrate itself” with the non-Western world.
She described intergovernmental organizations such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where China plays a major role, as “grievance platforms” for countries dissatisfied with a world order dominated by Western leaders.
The event was cohosted by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government-funded think tank, and the Mainland Affairs Council.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated