Taiwan and China they are two nations in constant conflict. The crisis of 2022 is not the first, in a territory that geographically is tempting to superpowers. Whoever controls Taiwan has access to the Pacific trade domain, with the aggravating circumstance, if it can be defined as such, of the great development of the semiconductor industry, today fundamental for many sectors on a global level. Including automotive, which is why it makes sense to talk about it in these pages.
According to Giuseppe Izzo, former president and now vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei and a leading manager in the semiconductor sector, Taiwan is used to these tensions. A war with China would go against everyone’s interests. “Most of Taiwanese exports go to China, not elsewhere. They are semi-finished products, which are completed in China and then exported elsewhere. Taiwan has large consumer electronics groups such as Foxconn, Quanta, Inventec, large contract manufacturers. Nowadays in Taiwan only the R&D and engineering part is done. Then Apple phones are assembled in China and so are many other products. The big Taiwanese builders employ around 15 million people in China. So a naval blockade of Taiwan would impact the world economy, but through China. It should also be noted that Taiwanese have recently begun to diversify investments, especially in India, Indonesia and Thailand. Taiwanese in China make many products destined for the United States or on behalf of American companies. The Taiwanese produce 12% of Tesla – all the electronics – then the assembly takes place in China. A similar dynamic takes place for HP computers, Nike and Adidas shoes or the bicycle supply chain. Giant, Taiwanese, is the world’s largest company in the sector“, He told the Courier.
The press reminds us of the failed opportunity for peaceful reunification. “With his historic 2015 meeting in Singapore with then Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Xi Jinping thought he could succeed where his father had failed: peaceful reunification. Tsai’s advent and a long chain of events culminating in Pelosi’s visit could convince him that only military action remains, now or in the future. Nevertheless, Xi hesitates over the possibility of launching a real trade war. It still needs Taipei semiconductors. This is why it invests so heavily in microchips: once self-sufficiency is achieved, still a few years away, it would have one less deterrent for a war that now seems perhaps still too risky“.
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