Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: Taiwan

Va. trade office opens in Taiwan

Virginia has opened its trade office in Taiwan.

Announced in April, the office is Virginia’s fourth international trade office and follows Youngkin’s meeting with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, during the governor’s first international trade mission.

Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick was joined by Liang-yu Wang, director general of Taiwan’s Department of North American Affairs in its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as officials from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership for the opening ceremony in the country’s capital of Taipei Tuesday morning.

One employee will staff the office, VEDP spokesperson Suzanne Clark said in an email.

The Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office was established by Executive Order 25 to strengthen the business ties between Virginia and Taiwan, an island of 23 million people off the coast of China. The announcement also comes amid tense relations between the U.S. and China, and occurred just months after Youngkin pulled out of a $3.5 billion economic development deal that could have brought an electric vehicle battery plant to Pittsylvania County over concerns about China’s involvement in the deal.

“Taiwan represents a significant market for foreign direct investment and international trade, and the new Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office will strategically position the commonwealth for economic development opportunities,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Taiwan as we actively work to recruit Taiwanese companies and encourage trade with Virginia businesses.”

Virginia exported $730 million in products to Taiwan in 2022 and imported $1 billion in goods from the island. The Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office will offer services to help Taiwanese companies with opportunities in Virginia, bring investment and new jobs to the commonwealth and further open markets for Virginia products. A memorandum of understanding signed between Virginia and Taiwan in April also commits to collaboration in research, innovation and critical global industries such as consumer electronics.

Taiwan is a global leader in the semiconductor industry, and Virginia has launched a workforce initiative around growth for that sector in the state that includes businesses and academia.

VEDP also has trade offices in Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Va. to establish trade office in Taiwan

Virginia will establish a trade office in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday morning after meeting with that country’s president, Tsai Ing-wen.

Youngkin’s meeting with Taiwan’s president came during the governor’s first international trade mission, during which he will also stop in Seoul, South Korean and Tokyo throughout the remainder of April.

The trade office was established by an executive order issued Monday, and Youngkin has given the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick until June 30 to submit a plan for its opening, including the resources it will need as well as a timeline and an exploration of services to promote the state’s businesses and industries in Taiwan, as well as the generation of new business.

Virginia exported $730 million in products to Taiwan and imported $1 billion in goods from the island in 2022, Youngkin’s office said in a news release. It would be the state’s fourth international economic development office — others are in Germany, Seoul, and Japan.

“As a premier partner in the commonwealth’s economic and business ecosystem, I was thrilled to meet with President Tsai to strengthen Virginia’s decades-old partnership with Taiwan,” Youngkin said in a statement. “As a former business leader, I appreciate the commitment to excellence that Taiwan demonstrates across sectors. They are an important training partner and model of prosperity for nations across the globe.”

Taiwan ranked No. 8 as the U.S.’s largest trading partner in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of State, and Youngkin noted that the country ranks as the fourth fastest growing source of foreign direct investment in the U.S. That foreign investment includes the semiconductor industry, Younkin also noted in his order, and Taiwan, dominates that market, producing more than 60% of the world’s semiconductors, The Economist reported. Building out a semiconductor industry in the state has been a priority for state leaders, including U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, following passage of the CHIPS and Science Act last year. On Friday, Youngkin’s office announced the launch of the Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology to build a chips workforce.

News of the new trade office comes amid tense relations between the U.S. and China, which has been antagonizing its neighbors for years. Beijing has declared that Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, will one day be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary, while Taiwan, a democracy that has been governed independently of China since 1949, has asserted its sovereignty.

A.J. Nolte, an assistant professor of government at Regent University, says there’s growing bipartisan consensus among lawmakers on Capitol Hill to defend Taiwan, if it comes to it, adding that the country has regular transfers of power, more religious freedom and more LGBTQ rights than China. Virginia is also home to four of the country’s top five defense contractors, Nolte says, adding establishing trade ties “makes sense for Virginia.”

The Biden administration has restricted the sale of semiconductors to China in recent months, citing national security threats. Late last year, Youngkin pulled Virginia from consideration for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. electric vehicle plant amid concerns about the Chinese company that would operate it — a move some of the governor’s critics say may have been more motivated by Youngkin striving to be more appealing to a national GOP audience for a presidential bid.

While Youngkin has consistently demurred when asked about his presidential ambitions, billionaire GOP donor Thomas Peterffy gave $1 million last week to Younkin’s political action committee, Spirit of Virginia, after the businessman said he putting his support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “on hold” because his positions on abortion and adult book bans have alienated some GOP donors and the mainstream wing of the party, Politico reported.

“From a state perspective, [Youngkin] might be able to just say … this is all about Virginia,” Nolte told Virginia Business. “It doesn’t hurt him, let’s just put it that way. If he decides that he wants to run for president later on … I don’t think he’s in any hurry to jump in. I think, if you’re Youngkin, probably what you’re thinking [is], ‘Well, if [former President Donald] Trump and DeSantis batter each other into oblivion, and if things go well for me in the [November] Virginia [General Assembly] elections, I’m going to try to swoop in and make a late entry.’ This kind of thing is not going to hurt him, that’s for sure.”

Youngkin to meet with Taiwan’s president

Amid rising tensions with China, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on his first international trade mission this month.

Youngkin will travel to Taipei City, Taiwan; Tokyo; and Seoul, South Korea, from April 24 to April 29, according to a Tuesday news release.

“I’m excited to represent the commonwealth in my first trade mission to Asia that will focus on economic development opportunities, our shared priorities and national security,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Taiwan, Japan and South Korea represent critical markets that will advance economic growth and prosperity in Virginia.”

Youngkin’s announcement comes on the heels of bellicose responses from China’s government over U.S. House speakers meeting with Tsai. In August 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Tsai in Taiwan, despite China’s announcement it would begin live-fire military drills encircling Taiwan as a result. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to meet with Tsai Wednesday. Tsai landed in New York on March 29 and stayed through April 1, visited Guatemala and Belize, and is set to return to the U.S., landing in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

The meeting would “be an assault on the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles told The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “This is the first red line that must not be crossed.”

In late 2022, Youngkin pulled Virginia from consideration for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant over concerns about the Chinese company that would operate the plant, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. The plant could have created 2,500 jobs in Pittsylvania County. In February, Ford announced it had chosen Michigan for the project.

Prior to Youngkin’s term, every Virginia governor for at least the last 20 years led a foreign trade mission within his first year. Youngkin’s decision to skip the July 2022 Farnborough International Airshow, held outside London, was also a deviation from previous administrations. In late June 2022, Youngkin’s chief of staff, Jeff Goettman, decided instead to send Virginia Secretary of Commerce Caren Merrick, according to The Washington Post.

In fall 2022, Youngkin told Virginia Business, that while he expected to go on foreign trade missions in the future, “I believe that the best opportunities for the commonwealth right now are for us to get our economic situation sorted out and to help the businesses that are here [to] grow and attract businesses that want to come to the United States or to Virginia.”

Virginia has 133 business establishments from Japan, 25 from South Korea and five from Taiwan, according to a news release.