Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) on Monday commented on the country’s territorial integrity. According to Taiwan News, the minister stressed that the island’s armed forces would not tolerate U.S. attempts to destroy TSMC in the event of a conflict with China. Although rhetoric between Taiwan and China is usually tense, Taiwan and the U.S. maintain a close friendship.
The geopolitical tensions between the U.S., Taiwan and China are extremely complex, with each player having different principles, agreements, ambiguities and strategies. Although we are used to thinking of the U.S. and Taiwan as allies, U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton’s recent statement may have overshot the mark somewhat. Regarding U.S. chip policy and China, Moulton stated at a recent political conference, “The U.S. should make it unequivocally clear to the Chinese that if they invade Taiwan, we will destroy TSMC.” This frank discussion of such a policy, however, appears to be frowned upon in Taiwan, as evidenced by Defense Minister Chiu’s response to an interview with Taiwanese media on Monday.
Moulton made the following comment at a recent political conference regarding U.S. chip policy toward China: “It should be made unequivocally clear to the Chinese that if they invade Taiwan, we will destroy TSMC. However, it appears to be unpopular in Taiwan to speak openly about this policy, as evidenced by Defense Minister Chiu’s remarks in an interview with Taiwanese media on Monday. The Taiwanese minister stressed to reporters that the armed forces are responsible for defending Taiwan and its people, property and strategic resources, regardless of the aggressors. Chiu said, “If they want to bomb certain targets, the armed forces will not tolerate it.”
Seth Moulton, a former Marine Corps officer and Democratic Party member of the U.S. Congress, has made remarks about the possible destruction of TSMC chip factories in Taiwan. It is significant to remember that such remarks are not without prior precedent.
Last year, we reported on Mark Liu, TSMC’s chairman, who stressed in an interview that no one could gain control of TSMC by force. Liu argued that even in the event of military force or invasion, TSMC’s factories would be unusable. He stressed that explosives would not be necessary because TSMC’s high-precision processes would simply break down if real-time connections to the outside world were interrupted. It is important to remember that China’s motives cannot be determined by economic rationality alone. It is possible that the country’s political decisions are shaped by a leader seeking fame, fortune, legacy and the like. Similarly, last October, a statement by Chen Ming-Tong, director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, was reported. Chen reportedly told Taiwanese lawmakers that TSMC would effectively have to close without contributions from companies such as ASML and other foreign suppliers. He summarized that even if China could get its hands on the “golden goose,” it could not produce “golden eggs.”
Hopefully, the situations described above will never come to pass, and thus the actual measures to destroy (or defend) strategically important facilities like TSMC will never be enacted.
Source: TomsHardware
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