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Taiwan supply chain role critical to U.S. interests: Trade negotiator

ROC Central News Agency

11/12/2022 06:27 PM

Washington, Nov. 11 (CNA) The country's top trade negotiator John Deng (鄧振中) said Friday that Taiwan's critical role in the global supply chain means it is in Washington's interest to ensure the island's national and economic security.

At an event hosted by the Hoover Institution, a Stanford University-affiliated think tank, Deng, a minister without portfolio, said that supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic had underlined the importance of Taiwan's position as a world leader in the production of semiconductors.

During the disruption, European countries and the United States desperately sought an increase in semiconductor supplies and entice Taiwanese chipmakers to set up overseas production facilities.

One prominent example of the latter is a US$12 billion investment by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, to build a fab in the U.S. state of Arizona.

According to TSMC, mass production in Arizona using advanced 5-nanometer processes will begin in 2024.

In his speech, Deng said that the U.S.' national security and economic interests would be affected if Taiwan saw its economic security undermined.

"So really I think my point is Taiwan's economic security is Taiwan's national security. Taiwan's national security is a very important part for U.S. national security and U.S. interests," Deng said.

Deng said he hoped Taipei and Washington would complete the negotiations under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, launched in June, by the end of next year.

Taiwan and U.S. officials have said they hoped to reach new trade agreements with "high-standard commitments and economically meaningful outcomes" under the trade initiative.

According to Deng, trade negotiations between Washington and Taipei conveyed to the world that the U.S. strongly supported Taiwan and would come up with concrete measures to deliver on its promises.

Deng said strengthening economic ties between Taiwan and the U.S. would benefit the economic development of both sides, adding that economic cooperation could unite like-minded countries and support democracy.

(By Lin Hung-han and Frances Huang)

Enditem/ASG