Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Taiwan has called for reviving talks on an investment agreement with the EU, noting that negotiations have ground to a halt.
President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen reminded that the EU announced a potential bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan in 2015, but has not made progress on the issue since then, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday.
While the EU and its member states are the largest sources of foreign investment in Taiwan, they do not have formal diplomatic relations due to China’s objections as the Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as a Chinese province.
Speaking after a meeting with representatives of the EU Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, Tsai stressed the importance of building a “resilient democratic alliance” with the EU.
“Taiwan seeks to enhance bilateral economic and trade exchanges, strengthen supply chain security and accelerate progress on the Taiwan-EU bilateral investment agreement, which would instil confidence in businesses on both sides to expand investments,” she pointed out.
After unveiling the EU Chips Act earlier this year, the bloc noted that Taiwan is a large producer of semiconductors and announced plans to cooperate with Taipei as a “like-minded partner” on chip production.
Impact of cooperation
EP delegation head Anna-Michelle Assimakopoulou pointed out that Taiwan and the EU share common values including democracy and protection of human rights.
“The EU recognises that our partnership in trade and investment with Taiwan is a strategic relationship with geopolitical implications,” she noted and added “my colleagues and I in the EU Parliament have called on the Commission to launch without delay an impact assessment, a public consultation and a scoping exercise for the bilateral investment agreement between the EU and Taiwan.”
After high-level talks between Taiwan and the EU in June this year, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) noted that it does not have concrete plans to build manufacturing facilities in Europe.
TSMC is one of the largest semiconductor foundries in the world and one of the largest companies in Taiwan. Last year, TSMC noted that it was considering expansion to Germany, but the two sides apparently did not make any progress since the announcement.
