Taiwan’s developed semiconductor sector provides it with an advantage in playing a role in global endeavors to reshuffle supply chains, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Thursday during a meeting with a group of visiting parliamentarians from seven countries.
Taiwan aspires to work with democratic partners to build more secure and resilient global supply chains through investment cooperation and technology exchanges, Tsai told the visiting delegation from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
The global supply chains have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as authoritarian expansion, Tsai said, referring specifically to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s constant military activity in areas around Taiwan.
Taiwan has a role to play in global endeavors to reshuffle supply chains, Tsai suggested, adding that the island had the advantage of a well-developed semiconductor sector.
The 12-member group, led by IPAC co-chair and European parliamentarian Reinhard Bütikofer, arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a four-day visit, the first IPAC delegation to visit Taiwan since the group was established in 2020.
Echoing Tsai’s remarks, Bütikofer, who is from Germany, said IPAC members also looked forward to boosting partnerships between their countries and Taiwan, especially in the field of trade and investment, according to a press release from the Presidential Office.
IPAC members advocate the signing of a bilateral investment agreement between Taiwan and the European Union, he said on behalf of the delegation whose members are all from Europe.
According to Bütikofer, the IPAC — an international cross-party network of parliamentarians from 29 countries — commits itself to supporting Taiwan in defending against the threat from China.
Taiwan has stood with Ukraine after Russia launched an invasion of the nation at the end of February, taking a stance that is contrary to Beijing, Bütikofer said.
He pledged that the IPAC would stand with Taiwan when the island is in need of support.
Meanwhile, IPAC co-chair and Dutch parliamentarian Sjoerd Sjoerdsma underlined the importance of showing Beijing the unbearable economic and military consequences it would face should it attempt to take Taiwan by force.
Democratic countries around the world must work together to deter Beijing from taking action against Taiwan, Sjoerdsma said, arguing that the threat against Taiwan is a threat against the world.
In a separate meeting on Thursday, Heino Klinck, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told Tsai that China had chosen “systematic competition” with democratic nations and was attempting to rewrite the existing international order to its own benefit.
It is therefore important that these like-minded countries “band together to strengthen deterrence in all domains in order to ensure that competition does not lead to conflict,” said Klinck, who is currently principal of consulting firm Klinck Global LLC.
Tsai said at the meeting with Klinck and other think tank experts that Taiwan would continue to improve its self-defense capabilities while strengthening its connections with democratic partners around the world.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel