Taiwan’s President, Lai Ching-te, said that maintaining the political status quo is the most responsible thing the island can do to secure global supply chains, according to Reuters. He was speaking on June 2 at the opening ceremony of Computex in Taipei, where leaders of some of the largest global technology companies have gathered to talk artificial intelligence.
Taiwan is the site of some of the world’s biggest, most advanced and internationally critical technology companies, including chipmaking giant TSMC, giving it a pivotal role in the global artificial intelligence supply chain for companies including Nvidia and Apple.
“As the world’s need for AI grows, so too does its need for a Taiwan that is stable, trustworthy, and capable of shouldering responsibility,” Lai said. “The government will firmly safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and is committed to maintaining the status quo,” he said, adding that this was Taiwan’s most responsible pledge to the global supply chain.
Lai was implicitly referring to the threat across the Taiwan Strait from China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, and operates its warships and warplanes around the island on an almost daily basis. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. The U.S. has for decades taken an ambivalent position on Taiwan, its ninth largest trading partner, neither recognizing it as a sovereign nation, nor fully supporting China’s claim.