KMT Chair Cheng Li-wen Visits Silicon Valley's First Chinese-American Council Chair, Hopes to Deepen Exchanges

(Central News Agency, reporter Wang Cheng-chung, Taipei, June 4) Kuomintang (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wen visited the first Chinese-American chair of Santa Clara County, Otto Lee, and Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor during her US trip. Cheng stated that Taiwan looks forward to launching more strategic cooperation with Santa Clara County based on its 'Silicon Shield' strength and hopes to deepen comprehensive exchanges between the two sides in the future.

The KMT's Department of Cultural and Communications issued a press release today stating that Cheng visited Santa Clara County, the 'heart of Silicon Valley,' in California on June 4 (Taipei time), paying a courtesy call on its first Chinese-American chair, Otto Lee, and meeting with Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor and others.

Cheng pointed out that with the advent of the AI era, Taiwan looks forward to launching more strategic cooperation with Santa Clara County based on its 'Silicon Shield' strength. Noting that Santa Clara County is a sister county to Hsinchu County, home to the Hsinchu Science Park, and that she is friends with the mayors of Hsinchu County and City, Cheng expressed hope to deepen comprehensive exchanges between the two sides.

Cheng stated that one of the important purposes of this trip is to ease cross-strait tensions, reduce the risk of conflict, promote high-tech integration in a stable environment, and bring significant peace dividends to the region.

Cheng pointed out that the 'First Island Chain,' formerly composed of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, was a front line during the Cold War. However, in the 21st century, Taiwan should completely overturn Cold War thinking and transform the First Island Chain into a 'chain of peace and prosperity' that gathers talent, technology, and capital.

The KMT stated that Lee specifically mentioned his deep ties with Taiwan and pointed out that many of Silicon Valley's top innovations are made in Taiwan, citing the world-renowned TSMC as an example. Lee also introduced the county's budget operations of up to US$15 billion and its excellent public healthcare system, expressing hope for more progress in technological innovation and global cooperation between the two sides in the future.

The KMT stated that Gillmor introduced to Cheng that the headquarters of tech giants such as NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD are all located in Santa Clara City, giving it extraordinary strength in the high-tech field. In particular, the city is about to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with six key matches scheduled, which, combined with the recently concluded Super Bowl in February, demonstrates the city's world-leading hosting capacity.

Gillmor stated that to meet the demands of pocket technology and AI computing power, the city has already begun an energy transition, aiming to double the city's power capacity by 2028.

In response, Cheng pointed out that under the erroneous energy policy of the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, Taiwan's industries and people's livelihoods have long been in a severe power shortage crisis. Cheng argued that Taiwan must learn from Santa Clara City's experience, as stable power infrastructure is the foundation of a nation's technological competitiveness. (Editor: Wan Shu-chang) 1150604