Taiwan legislators talk chips at U.S. Commerce Department

Washington, May 1 (CNA) A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers met with American officials in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to discuss several issues, including the flow of chips made in Taiwan, according to Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), one of the lawmakers.

The delegation met with officials of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, accompanied by Ingrid Larson, the managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Washington office.

Wang, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said after the meeting that the bureau voiced concern about possible "origin washing" of Chinese products and Taiwan's high-end chips reaching third parties restricted by the United States through illicit means.

Wang said his group proposed law enforcement cooperation to tackle that problem, contending that Taiwan's exclusion from Interpol put it at a disadvantage and made it hard to track users who acquire their chips through indirect means.

He acknowledged the need to prevent Taiwanese chips from reaching China, saying that while it may be a business issue for the U.S., Taiwan does not want its chips ending up with "a third party aiming missiles at our country."

An example of such a case is the possible violation of U.S. export controls by leading Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) after a chip it made ended up in an artificial intelligence processor produced by Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co., according to a Reuters report on April 8.

The report said TSMC could face a penalty of US$1 billion or more to settle the case.

The delegation also met with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in the day.

"As Beijing's threats grow louder, our support for Taiwan's security, economy and democracy is unwavering," Pelosi said in a post on social media after the meeting.

Their visit to D.C. coincided with the stepping down of China hawk Mike Waltz as national security advisor. Waltz was later nominated as the ambassador to the United Nations by Trump.

The delegation's leader, Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said Taiwan-U.S. ties would remain stable despite the changes, noting that the U.S. Congress maintained a unanimous stance on Taiwan.

While the Biden and Trump administrations may differ in their approaches, their overall position toward Taiwan remained consistent, he said.

He pointed out that Waltz will still be able to deal with issues involving Taiwan if he does take on the role as the U.N. ambassador.

The delegation also includes lawmakers Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) and Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) of the KMT, Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) of the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party, and Wang, Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) and Ngalim Tiunn (張雅琳) of the DPP.

They have visited the Department of Commerce, the intelligence, foreign affairs and armed services committees of the Congress, the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, the think tank Heritage Foundation and former AIT Chair Laura Rosenberger.