China’s state-run media Global Times published an editorial accusing the U.S. of breaking the international rule and forcibly taking Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) to the United States. The article also used the term “TSMC of China’s Taiwan province.” Below is an excerpt from the article:
“On December 6, TSMC held a ‘relocation ceremony’ for its first factory in Arizona. Washington ‘gave a measure of credit’ to this event. U.S. President Joe Biden led Commerce Secretary Raimondo to visit the new factory in Arizona. He also stated in a high-profile speech that day that what happened in Arizona is very important to the country and to the world. However, no matter how Washington plays it, this will be a landmark event [n a dark turning point in the history of the development of the global semiconductor industry].
“Zhang Zhongmou, the founder of TSMC, said at the ceremony that day, ‘Globalization is almost dead and free trade is almost dead.’ Although he may have meant something else, this sentence came from the founder of a highly globalized leading company. It is a meaningful and precise footnote to the event and to what U.S. President Biden said in his speech at the ceremony, ‘Guys, American manufacturing is back,’ It is a huge irony. Why does this show that the American manufacturing industry is‘back,’ Isn’t this TSMC, which has been developing well in the Taiwan Province in China?
“No matter how the U.S. and the Democratic Progressive Party (a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China) authorities cover it up, it will not change the nature of this matter. That is, the U.S. has forcefully taken the high-quality enterprise from China’s Taiwan, which occupies an important position in the world’s core high-tech industries, to the United States. To welcome the arrival of TSMC, Washington proffered a wealth of compliments, but from the beginning to the end there was only the core of “American interests,” and there was almost no mention of whether the two sides could win-win or whether they would contribute to the global chip industry.
“This is also a wake-up call to the world, and we need to ring the alarm bells louder. The United States is not only doing this to TSMC. It can also use this as an example to attract manufacturing back to the United States, and continue to put pressure on chip companies in other countries that are still hesitant. For Washington, whether it is economically or politically, this is a deal that is sure to make a profit without losing money. The United States used brute force to force its way into the world originally dominated by the laws of the market, just like a bull breaking into a china shop, disrupting rules and order. If it is true, as Zhang Zhongmou said, ‘Globalization is almost dead and free trade is almost dead.’ Then the United States is the culprit according to clear evidence.”
Source: Global Times, December 8, 2022 https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/4AnFGHFue28