Tycoon reclaims Taiwan citizenship, donates NT$1 billion to defense against China
ROC Central News Agency
09/01/2022 04:16 PM
Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) Robert Tsao (曹興誠), founder of contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), said Thursday that he had regained Taiwanese citizenship and was donating NT$1 billion (US$32.79 million) to train a 3.3 million-strong militia in support of Taiwan's defense efforts against China.
Displaying an ID card of the Republic of China -- the formal name of Taiwan, Tsao told the media that he had renounced his Singaporean citizenship, which he had obtained in 2011, and was "so excited" to have his Taiwan citizenship restored.
From now on, Tsao said, he will stand with his "courageous compatriots" against any invasion by China, to ensure that Taiwan remains "the land of the free and the home of the brave" like the United States.
As part of his support efforts, Tsao said, he will donate NT$1 billion to provide military training for 3.3 million civilians, in a bid to boost Taiwan's defense capability and thus help prevent China from taking the country by force.
In the three-year program, NT$600 million will be spent to train a militia of 3 million "Black Bear Warriors," who will be able to support Taiwan's military forces on the battlefield, the 75-year-old tycoon said at a press conference.
Another NT$400 million will be provided to local governments to train 300,000 civilian "marksmen," said Tsao, who founded UMC in 1980 and now has a listed net worth of US$16.3 billion.
In 2011, Tsao renounced his Taiwan citizenship and moved to Singapore, citing dissatisfaction with a set of government restrictions that prevented UMC from investing in China. The regulations were introduced in early 2000 during the administration of then President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Tsao is also on record as an advocate for legislation to allow Taiwan to seek unification with China through peaceful means, including putting the issue to a national referendum, should Beijing create favorable conditions for unification.
In recent years, however, Tsao has become a vocal critic of Beijing, and last month he pledged a donation of NT$3 billion to help Taiwan boost its defense capability, after China launched days of intensive military drills around Taiwan in the wake of a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
On Thursday, Tsao said Beijing's crucial military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong in the past few years had crushed his hopes for any peaceful unification between Taiwan and China.
Anything coming from the Chinese Communist Party now is a "hoax," said Tsao, who was wearing a bulletproof vest at the press conference.
He said that when he first made the NT$3 billion pledge, he had not yet decided how the money should be used, as his first goal was to express his "indignation" at the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) blockade of Taiwan.
The tycoon said he will later put forward other ideas for how his donations could be used to bolster Taiwan's defense capabilities.
Asked to comment on Tsao's offer, Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) expressed thanks for the donation and said the government will evaluate the feasibility of the proposals.
(By Chung Jung-feng, Lai Yu-chen, and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
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