My Take | Taiwan is undermining its own ‘silicon shield’
- For an economy that relies so much on microchips from the low end to the most advanced, its worsening relationship with Beijing is forcing others to diversify critical supply chains and production facilities
In recent years, Taiwan under the Democratic Progressive Party has successfully “internationalised” its dispute with mainland China over unification. At least that’s true with respect to the United States and its allies, who have exploited the opportunity to expand their geopolitical interference in the Asia-Pacific region. But that has worked too well and may now be backfiring on the island.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), made up of mostly Western hawkish politicians, has come up with “Operation MIST”, or Measure the Impact of a Shock in the Taiwan Strait. Inadvertently, it’s a stark reminder that the world can’t rely so much on the island’s near chip-making monopoly.
MIST is supposed to appeal to governments all over the world, but it’s unlikely to have much impact beyond preaching to the converted. Most other countries would rather stay out of any fight across the Taiwan Strait.
Even French President Emmanuel Macron has said before that the European Union should not get involved in “crises that aren’t ours”, in a clear reference to Taiwan.
The island, though, seems to welcome the latest initiative. It should really be wary of it. The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement expressing “its welcome and appreciation of this initiative”.
As MIST implies, it wants more governments to be alert about the dangers to the global economy stemming from a conflict across the Taiwan Strait. That presumably includes the risk of relying too much on Taiwan in terms of critical global supply chains and the freedom of navigation. But, when you boil right down to it, it’s all about microchips. At least that is the one industry that everyone around the world does fret about when it comes to Taiwan.