François Wu: 'We are pursuing a Not Today policy'

In Taiwan, you are used to living with a high level of uncertainty. Now, with the election of President Donald Trump, you have to face a new level of it: unpredictability.

I am aware that Mr. Trump has an image of unpredictability among Europeans. However, based on our experience with him during his first presidency, we have no reason to share this perception with the Europeans. And when we look at the people he has gradually brought into his administration, I believe we have good reason to expect very close and smooth cooperation with the USA.

For example, the new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is a very good friend of Taiwan. Donald Trump wants to make America great again, and we are thinking about what kind of positive role we can play in this.

There are very different voices in the new American cabinet. Elon Musk, for example, compared Taiwan to Hawaii and shared the Communist Party's view that the country is an "integral part" of China.

In a democracy there will always be very different political opinions, a president cannot decide everything. But we have to look at common interests. Take a look at the semiconductor industry, because that is something Trump has criticized.

He claimed that Taiwan stole the chip business from the US.

With one dollar earned with the production of a semiconductor, 38 percent is going to the US, 12 percent is going to Japan, 12 percent to South Korea, 11 percent to the European Union, and 11 percent is going to Taiwan. The US earns the majority of the profit from semiconductor production. The semiconductor business is an ecosystem. There is the design part, the foundry and the packaging part. The US still dominates the design part, but Europe and Taiwan also plays an important role. The most important design partner for TSMC is IMEC in Brussels. The machines to produce chips are made in Netherlands ASML and German technology also plays a very important part in it.

The semiconductor industry is a shared ecosystem. There are so many common interests between Taiwan, the US, and the EU, and this makes the common ground very large for our common future.

Both Europe and Asia gear up for a new era of transactional diplomacy. And as far as Taiwan is concerned, Trump has made it very clear what he wants: more investment in the semiconductor industry. TSMC is already investing in Arizona, Germany and Japan. What else could be on the negotiating table?

Beyond semiconductor production there is a very important industry in Taiwan that people tend to forget. We all need to stock big quantities of data. This data is stored on servers. 90 percent of servers are made in Taiwan. Working with Taiwan is in the very strong interest of the US. For the past 10 years, Taiwan has already started to diversify its investments in the world. In 2013, our investment in China accounted for 84 percent of our investment worldwide. Last year, it went down to 8 percent, this year it will be going down to 7 percent. Those investments from Taiwan are directed to the US, Europe, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Japan, South Asia, and India. We can offer a lot, not only in the electronics industry, which is our strongest part. So I think for Donald Trump working with Taiwan corresponds very strongly with American interests.

The other question, of course, is security. He declared that the US was not that different from an insurance company and that Taiwan should pay a higher price.

We already pay for our own defense because Taiwan does not have any security treaty, unlike South Korea, Japan, or the Philippines. Taiwan will be very happy to buy new weapons, if America agrees to sell them to Taiwan. The problem of the past is that many countries didn't want to work with Taiwan on the security issue and sell us weapons. We already increased our national defense by more than 80 percent in the past eight years, and we will be very dedicated to it in the future. We know we have to show to the world that we have a very strong will to defend ourselves. The security of the region does not only concern Taiwan, but is also in the interest of the EU and European countries, for example regarding the freedom of navigation in the region.

There is a debate in the US about whether American soldiers should risk their lives for Taiwan if Taiwan is not doing enough for its defense. What do you think of this?

Our national defense budget is already 20 percent of our total government budget. That is already quite high, higher than France, Germany and the US. With a population of 23 million, the Taiwanese military personnel is over 180,000 people. That is the same size as the German and French armies and much higher than Italy's. The pressure that Taiwan is facing is not the same as other countries. For example, when South Koreans and Japan want to buy weapons, they do not face many difficulties. But we do. We will of course continue with our military reforms, but it is not only up to us to stop the Chinese hostility we need to work with the whole world to maintain the peace. We have this "Not Today" Policy. What do you mean by that?

We want Xi Jinping to draw the conclusion "Today is not a good day for invading Taiwan." It is composed of three pillars. The first one is the very strong will to defend ourselves. The second one is the credibility of democratic military powers in the region. Every month, the US holds military drills in the region. Germany just sent their frigate through the Taiwan Strait, then the French, and the Netherlands. We also have Turkey, Great Britain, and even Italy sent an aircraft carrier to work with the Japanese navy. This all sends a very important message to China. The third pillar will be the support of the international community to support Taiwan to join international organizations.

Taiwan's foreign policy faces the major challenge that only eleven countries and the Holy See officially recognize Taiwan. However, Donald Trump values personal loyalty more than anything else. How can you build a close personal relationship in the face of these obstacles?

For me, it is just a new form of working with other countries. Compared with other countries, we have a huge network of 111 foreign missions in the world. More and more, we can meet officials unofficially. A new form of life doesn't need recognition from another life. It just functions well. Taiwan functions well. And regarding the Trump administration, we are sure that Marco Rubio knows Taiwan very well, and so would the cooperation between Taiwan and Trump's government.

Parts of the Taiwanese population are skeptical whether the US would really come to Taiwan's aid in the event of an attack. China is trying to reinforce this doubt with disinformation campaigns to signal to the Taiwanese population: You will be alone, better find a way to work with us. Will Trump's unpredictability amplify this sentiment?

China, of course, will try to persuade Taiwanese people not to trust the US. However, the majority of Taiwanese have confidence in our relationship with the USA. I don't believe that Germany, France, and the USA will abandon Taiwan. After all, we have relations between our societies. The support of Taiwan is increasing in the democratic world.

What do you hope or expect from Germany?

We have already completed the first step of building a new semiconductor factory in Germany. It is a very strong national interest of Germany and Taiwan. So, based on this very strong common issue of interest, I hope that the exchange between Germany and Taiwan will go further and further.