On Monday, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Qiu Guozheng issued a statement on the country’s territorial integrity.according to taiwan newsa Taiwanese minister said the island’s military would not tolerate US attempts to destroy TSMC in the event of a war with China. And America is good friends, so how is it?
Geopolitical tensions between the United States, Taiwan, and China are fundamentally confusing with different principles, understandings, ambiguities, and policies that mean different things to different parties. We are used to seeing the US and Taiwan as allies, but perhaps the recent allegations by US Congressman Seth Moulton missed the point.
On the topic of US tipping policy and China, Mr. Moulton recently told political conference attendees, “The US should make it clear to the Chinese that if they invade Taiwan, they will blow up TSMC.” Told. Speaking openly about these policies appears to be frowned upon in Taiwan, according to Defense Minister Qiu’s statement to questions from Taiwanese media on Monday.
A Taiwanese minister told reporters that the military has a responsibility to protect Taiwan (and its people, goods and strategic resources) from any aggression, regardless of the source of the information. If you want to bomb,” Qiu argued, the military would not tolerate it.
US Congressman Seth Moulton is a former Marine Corps officer and member of the Democratic Party, and it’s important to remember his comments about destroying TSMC’s chip manufacturing fabs in Taiwan.
We reported last year that TSMC Chairman Mark Liu told an interviewer:he reasoned (opens in new tab) “If you receive military force or aggression, TSMC’s factories will not be able to operate.” But Liu said TSMC’s fine-tuned operations would simply collapse if it lost its real-time connection to the outside world, so explosives wouldn’t be needed. But we must not forget that China’s motives should not be measured against business rationality. Instead, its policies may be colored by leaders seeking glory, destiny, legacies, and so on.
Similarly, in October last year, we reported on a statement by Director General Chen Ming-tong of the National Security Agency of Taiwan. Chen reportedly told lawmakers in Taiwan that TSMC would have to effectively shut down without the contributions of his ASML and other foreign suppliers. “Even if China gets a golden chicken, it can’t lay a golden egg.” (opens in new tab) National security boss.
Hopefully, the above situation will never unfold, and thus an actual policy regarding the destruction (or defense) of strategically important facilities like TSMC will never be enacted.
