Waltzing Between the M’land and the US, Tsai Ing-wen Must Learn from Morris Chang

 Waltzing Between the M’land and the US, Tsai Ing-wen Must Learn from Morris Chang

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

November 10, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

According to a Financial Times report, the US government is pressing Taiwan to restrict the exportation of TSMC-made chips to Mainland China’s tech giant Huawei, hoping that the Taiwan government will strengthen its controls over tech exports to China. To this report, TSMC’s reply is that it has not received any request from the US or Taiwan government to ban shipments to Huawei, and that TSMC would abide by the requirements of laws and regulations.

TSMC, sandwiched in the US-China trade war, has to consider, on the one hand, that Huawei is a big client, representing 10% of its annual sales revenue, and total sales revenue from the Mainland occupies 20%, plus the Mainland is the largest importer of semiconductors in the world, continually maintaining rapid growth, thus the situation does not permit it to abandon this market. On the other hand, TSMC hold firm to the principle of not violating the law, not disrespecting the principles of violating the US ban, and continues to make shipments to Huawei; it even has a plant on the Mainland as a spare tire. This indeed may be called waltzing between China and the US with wisdom and deftness.

The United States has been exerting pressure on ASEAN countries to express support for the US in the US-China trade war, but most countries are not willing to heed the calls. Last month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in an exclusive interview, plainly stated that if Asian countries had to take sides between China and the US, then "they would be very unhappy because it would be a painful choice"; the reason was because "If you ask them to take sides, saying that they must cut off various relationships with their largest trading partners (referring to China), I believe you are putting a straitjacket on these countries!"

For the Tsai government to truly pursue Taiwan’s long-term interests and stability the most clever choice would absolutely be being one-sided to neither, maintaining as much as possible equidistant exchanges. It is true that in international diplomacy and national security the US has irreplaceable importance to Taiwan, but the Mainland, occupying 40% of Taiwan’s exports is equally an indispensable link for Taiwan’s survival. Taiwan must never choose to be one-sided under US pressure, probably entailing losses greater than benefits in the end; especially under the flip-flopping policies of the Trump administration, the chances of Taiwan being sacrificed would be even greater.

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