Taiwan is adopting an impartial stance as it seeks to join consultations centered on China's protest against United States chip sanctions at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations on Friday.
Taiwan's request made to the WTO on Jan. 3 was aimed at participating in the process as a third-country observer to learn more about the situation, the office said in a statement after foreign media reports indicated that Taiwan was seeking a voice in the debate.
Taiwan's top trade negotiator John Deng (???) told CNA that the country did not intend to get into the substantive discussions on the WTO case because Taiwan does not have the right to speak in such discussions.
Instead, in its request to the WTO, Taiwan said its participation was aimed at getting a feel for how the dispute could affect the global semiconductor market, given its position in the market and as a major trading partner of the U.S.
"We supply an important share of the world market in semiconductors and [have a strong interest] in knowing how the dispute will affect the supply and demand of the semiconductor products in our bilateral trade and in the world market," the request read.
Deng said it was rather common for countries affected by trade disputes between other countries to apply to join the consultations, and he rejected speculation that Taiwan was taking a particular stance.
According to Taiwan's request, its semiconductor industry contributed 26 percent of global semiconductor revenue in 2021 and 61 percent of global market share in terms of the production of advanced semiconductor chips below 16 nm.
China filed a dispute against the U.S. at the WTO last month over Washington's sweeping semiconductor export curbs, which aim to limit Beijing's ability to develop a domestic semiconductor industry, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. has pressured allies around the world, including Taiwan, to go along with the controls.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel