The person in charge of the Taipei Economic Office in Santiago, Silvia Liu, warns Chile about the consequences of a high dependence on China. She tells Ex-Ante: “Chile has to learn from us: we believed that China was reliable.”
Trade. Las Chile’s exports to Taiwan have fallen in value, but due to the lower price of copper, says the manager of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Santiago, Silvia Yu-Chi Liu in conversation with Ex-Ante. Almost 70% of shipments to that Asian country are of this raw material.
- While Taiwan is Chile’s fourth largest trading partner in Asia Pacific, after China, Japan and South Korea. And Chile is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner in Latin America, after Mexico and Brazil.
- One of the Taiwanese companies with the greatest market penetration in Chile is Asus, producer of laptops and especially for gamersLiu says. The Evergreen shipping company participates in the property of the Chilean Ultramar, and in the south is Ocean Atlantic, a fishing company that exports crabs and locos.
- Taiwan has an office in Chile, but not an embassy, because there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries. In 1970 Chile recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the only representative government of China, which ended the idea of Taiwan occupying that role. As well as Chile, the same decision was being made by most of the States, both within the United Nations and also in the United States. For Beijing, Taiwan is a “rogue province” over which it claims sovereignty. However, Taiwan is de facto a country that is not only independent, but also democratic, unlike the PRC today headed by Xi Jinping.
T13
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[VIDEO] China breaks cooperation with the United States and sanctions Pelosi for visiting Taiwan
The example of Taiwan. On Tuesday, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan for a few hours. The trip had generated international security alarms and President Xi himself had warned his American counterpart, Joe Biden, that if the tour took place it would be “playing with fire”.
- Eleven Chinese missiles hit the waters around the island of Taiwan, separated by the Formosa Strait 180 kilometers from mainland China. The Chinese military has deployed fighter jets, bombers, warships and other vessels, some of which crossed the informal southern boundary separating the two countries. Beijing also reported that suspended and canceled a series of dialogue initiatives with Washington in terms of climate change but, more worryingly, in military coordination.
-What is the opinion of the Taiwanese government on Nancy Pelosi’s visit?
-The official version of the government is that we welcome President Pelosi for valuing democracy in Taiwan. She directly and in action supports Taiwan with her visit.
-Is Taiwan’s foreign trade with Chile and other countries endangered by China’s actions in military exercises or others, due to problems in the supply chain?
-In the value chain, for 20 years Taiwan has strengthened its capacity to develop computer technology. A single company, TSMC, is responsible for 60% of the world’s microchip production. If Taiwan collapses in two weeks, what will happen is the collapse of the entire world’s production chain, since chips are needed for everything: cars, computers, electronic equipment.
Everyone knows that political extortion [de China] has always been strong. Both President Trump and President Joe Biden have had a rapprochement with Taiwan. It happens that Taiwan and China have a framework of economic understanding, almost FTA, called ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement). And suddenly they tell us, from day to night, that pineapple exports to China are suspended. Since last year this has happened with different products; for example, pineapple, a few months ago the grouper and also cherimoya. They suspend the importation. There is no set of rules. Generally, the international rules allow to talk about what the problem is, but they don’t talk: they just close the door. That doesn’t just happen with us; [también] China with Australia. They have diplomatic relations and an FTA, but because the then prime minister said that he was in agreement with looking for the origin of the covid, they got upset and raised the tariff. Democratic countries find it difficult to understand.
So this has nothing to do with the arrival of Speaker Pelosi. In Taiwan we are already used to it.
-What can a democracy like Taiwan do, then?
We take it as an opportunity. For example, in the case of pineapple exports to China, we changed our deployment: we started exporting pineapples to the United States and we are looking for new markets. In two years, it has already been regulated. And we are happy. The same thing happened to us with the grouper. I believe that this motivates a valid reflection for all: the danger of depending on a single market. The same thing happens to Chile: 92% of Chilean cherries arrive in China, but anything could happen to them the day the door is closed for whatever reason.
-And how do you observe, in this office, what happens in your country, from a distance?
-We feel worried. But I also see it as an opportunity. Many people wonder what Taiwan is: ‘It is a province of China’, but everyone knows that it is not, but cannot say. They repeat the Chinese version. When they want to export fruit to China, they have to go through another procedure, they don’t do it with the Chinese government; When someone travels to Taiwan, or a Taiwanese travels to Chile, we deliver our documents, not China’s.
-Only in entities like Apec can Taiwan be deployed with greater independence, but in the rest nobody seems interested in confronting China.
-It’s just that nobody wants to confront each other… for example, it is believed that the Chinese market is guaranteed and that is why they don’t look for other markets. We Taiwanese thought the same. Chile has to learn from us: we believed that China was reliable, we are the main investor in China, we export so much to China, but when they close the doors, well, no.
-And there is no where to protest, except to the United States.
-What we show is the power of Taiwan, which is not one of confrontation, but of dialogue, economic. Those who do business with Taiwan are well aware of these issues. People understand that Taiwan is a vibrant democracy. In 1996 we started with the direct elections of our presidents, we have the powers of the State as in any democratic country, we have a government that represents the country and the citizens.
-Independent country?
-In my philosophy, Taiwan has always been independent. You don’t have to declare independence. It meets all the requirements, it is indisputable. It is actually independent.
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