Taiwan is ‘praying’ for stronger US ties after Ukraine fallout

The move comes after President Donald Trump said during his election campaign last year that Taiwan should pay for US protection and spend 10% of GDP on its military. Bloomberg

Taiwan is seeking closer security ties with the US and will look to buy more weapons from America, according to a senior official.

“I believe there is a way to have a closer security relation, unofficially, with the US,” François Chihchung Wu, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, said in an interview on Tuesday. “We are praying to do that and it will also be sending a message to China not to touch Taiwan so easily.”

President Lai Ching-te announced in February that Taiwan will raise its defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product. The move comes after President Donald Trump said during his election campaign last year that Taiwan should pay for US protection and spend 10% of GDP on its military.

“In increasing our defense budget, certainly the consequence is to buy more American weapons because Europeans don’t want to sell us weapons,” Wu said from his office in Taipei. “Even Japan is very careful about this.”

Wu added that unlike the dramatic fallout between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after their disastrous meeting in the White House last week, such a situation would never happen between Taiwan and the US.

“If it is possible that our president meets the president of the US, it will be considered a very positive and diplomatic” event, he said.

High-level meetings between Taiwan and the US would be very sensitive and unlikely. Since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, it has maintained only unofficial relations with Taiwan, despite being the island’s key political and economic supporter.

Taiwan’s presidents usually have to use “transit” as a reason to visit the US, making direct engagement between leaders from both sides extremely rare.

Chip Curbs

When asked about the US push for stricter semiconductor export controls against China and the possible impact on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Wu said Taiwan doesn’t have the capability to oppose a decision made by the US. “We just need to adapt to it,” he added.

The US earlier this year unveiled new rules aimed at preventing advanced chips from TSMC and other companies from reaching China. The measures require chipmakers to tighten their scrutiny of customers, especially Chinese firms, following an incident where TSMC-made chips were secretly diverted to the blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co.

While Taiwan is building its own submarines and warships, Wu ruled out more drastic measures like developing nuclear weapons as that would give China a reason to attack the island.

“Every message that we are sending to the world on China is that we will not give you an excuse to attack Taiwan,” Wu said. “The goal is to make sure that every day that the Chinese President wakes up and is shaving he says: ‘OK, I want to conquer Taiwan to be the greatest emperor of China, but not today.”