Taiwan must leverage tech capabilities to deepen cooperation: Lai

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) emphasized the importance of leveraging Taiwan's strengths in semiconductor manufacturing and technology to enhance its economic and political cooperation with the international community at the Yushan Forum, which opened on Monday.

The two-day annual event is being held in Taipei under the theme "New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific and a New World."

During his remarks, Lai said the forum has a mission to build on the success of the New Southbound Policy and the economic achievements it made possible by introducing "action plans" that will further promote mutual prosperity for Taiwan and its international partners.

Referencing the forum's key themes of smart technologies and resilient semiconductor supply chains, Lai emphasized his administration's commitment to further integrating Taiwan into the international community in the fields of semiconductors and smart applications.

The New Southbound Policy, launched by Lai's predecessor Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), aims to deepen economic, cultural, educational, and people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and ASEAN nations, Oceanic countries, and India.

Lai said that in the past Taiwanese industries transitioned from "moving westward across the Taiwan Strait to shifting southbound to working closer with the north."

"But now, we are confidently stepping across the Pacific reaching eastwards to the Americas and other regions while staying firmly rooted in Taiwan," he said.

"Our enterprises are expanding their global presence and marketing worldwide. Taiwan will continue to engage with the world and we welcome the world to come closer to Taiwan," he said.

The Yushan Forum, jointly hosted by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, aims to deepen Taiwan's partnerships with countries in Asia and beyond by fostering regional dialogue, expanding multilateral opportunities for cooperation, and facilitating exchanges of ideas among talent in technology and social initiatives, according to the event's website.

At Monday's event, foreign dignitaries emphasized the importance of Taiwan Strait security for both the global economy and international stability.

American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said that every country has a stake in preserving peace in the Taiwan Strait, and the United States is no different.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Greene said, "has underscored that we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of peace and stability in the international community."

Conservative estimates have put the cost of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait at over 10 percent of global GDP -- greater than World War II, Greene noted.

"Together with our closest international partners, we will reinforce our opposition to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force of coercion," he said.

In his remarks, Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, who chairs the 270-member Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, said "A Taiwan emergency is a Japan emergency," quoting the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"In order to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific, we will continue to check China and safeguard peace in the Taiwan Strait with like-minded countries," Furuya said.