Lai urges democratic chip alliance amid global security challenges

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Thursday expressed Taiwan's openness to collaborate with other democratic countries on semiconductors, contending that such an alliance would enhance the country's deterrence.

Taiwan will "collaborate with our democratic partners to form a global alliance for the AI chip industry and establish democratic supply chains for industries connected to high-end chips," Lai said as he addressed a two-day international security forum, HFX Taipei.

"Deepening our mutually beneficial cooperation in technology... allows us to further enhance deterrence and maintain global security" as authoritarian regimes continue to consolidate, Lai said, mentioning China, Russia, North Korea and Iran in particular.

He reiterated his pledge during a news conference at the Presidential Office last week that his administration would introduce an "initiative on semiconductor supply chain partnerships for global democracies."

"We hope Taiwan can serve as a base for linking the capabilities of our democratic partners so that each can play a suitable role in the semiconductor industry chain and develop its own strengths," Lai added.

Lai called on democratic nations to "come closer in solidarity" at the forum, where discussions focused on Ukraine's future in the aftermath of talks between U.S. and Russian officials.

Several speakers at the forum expressed concern over U.S. President Donald Trump's recent claims that Ukraine was responsible for the war with Russia -- a drastic shift to the U.S. stance over the past three years -- and their implications for Taiwan.

Lai, on the other hand, did not dwell on the subject, but instead cited Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru as expressing their opposition to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion across the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement earlier this month.

Taking note of China's sustained political and military intimidation against Taiwan, Lai said the people of Taiwan "will stand firm and safeguard our national sovereignty, maintain our free and democratic way of life and uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), secretary-general of the National Security Council, nevertheless, said Taiwan was "watching the development in a very careful way" in response to a question about Ukraine during a talk later the same day, while stressing that the situation in Taiwan and that in the East European nation was different.

Wu, who served as foreign minister for most of former President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) two four-year terms, appeared to remain optimistic and upheld the argument that Washington was relinquishing its presence in Europe to concentrate resources in the Indo-Pacific.

"Some of the key Trump administration officials, they've been talking about pulling out of Europe for quite some time. And the objective of pulling out of Europe is to concentrate their resources in the Indo-Pacific to deal with one specific country, that is the PRC," Wu said.