On Tuesday, Taiwan announced that it would be limiting shipments of semiconductors into South Africa—among 47 restricted products—due to national security concerns. The rare export curbs could hit South Africa's "electronics, telecom, and auto parts sectors" hard, MSN reported, if South Africa doesn't meet with Taiwan to discuss better terms within the next 60 days.
As Bloomberg previously reported, Taiwan is upset that South Africa unilaterally moved to relocate Taiwan's embassy from Pretoria to Johannesburg after meeting with China's president, Xi Jinping, in 2023. As a major ally to China, South Africa recently intensified pressure to move the embassy in July ahead of another meeting in November that Xi is expected to attend—attempting to signal that South Africa was weakening ties with Taiwan, as China had demanded.
However, a Taiwanese official told Bloomberg that Taiwan expects to "increasingly use economic and trade policy for diplomatic goals," suggesting that "other unfriendly nations" could be next to face chip restrictions.
That threat alone could influence Taiwan's diplomatic ties globally, as Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told Bloomberg that "going forward, other governments will be looking at this example and considering not only Taiwan’s carrots but also its potential sticks."
Experts have suggested that although the US and major European economies are unlikely to be targeted, Taiwan's smaller partners may face pressure to shift their trade strategies in response or risk losing access to the largest supplier of the world's most sophisticated chips, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
It seems likely that Trump's trade war influenced Taiwan to take this bold step after it previously followed Trump's lead in restricting exports to China chip firms Huawei and the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation in June. At that time, experts told CNN that Taiwan's restrictions were "largely symbolic," reflecting "the Taiwanese government’s clearer intent to align its export control regulations more closely with those of the United States."
Posted by John3262005
1 Comment
>However, a Taiwanese official told Bloomberg that Taiwan expects to “increasingly use economic and trade policy for diplomatic goals,” suggesting that “other unfriendly nations” could be next to face chip restrictions.
Good, the Chinese have been using economic blackmail and coersion for years. It’d be stupid for Taiwan to not start using their own leverage as well.