(Photo 1: Director General Dennis Lei was interviewed by WisPolitics)

January 19, 2024

Ken Wasylik and Sandi Siegel, hosts of the podcast unit of "WisPolitics," the largest online political-news organization in Wisconsin, conducted a joint video interview with Director General Lei at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024, which was just published on WisPolitics website on January 19th. Director General Lei expressed the mutual hope for the expansion of Taiwan-U.S. economic relations and trade, and emphasized that the negotiation and signing of agreements such as the BTA and ADTA between Taiwan and the United States would promote their economies and trade and enhance the well-being of their two peoples. He also conveyed the mutual hope that Taiwan and the Midwestern states of the United States will expand bilateral trade and investment. Exchanges and collaboration in the cultivation of talent, industrial and academic cooperation, Mandarin language teaching, and culture are fields that can be expanded and deepened, as well. When asked, Director General Lei said that Taiwan and the United States are like-minded and have cooperated closely for many years on security, economics, trade, and human rights issues. In recent years, they have jointly fought against bullying by authoritarian countries. Therefore, they have found ways to develop close economic, trade, education, technology and other relations with countries of similar philosophies.

On the economic front, the value of bilateral trade between Taiwan and the United States in 2022 reached US$135.6 billion, an annual increase of 19 percent above that in 2021. Taiwan is the 9th-largest trading partner of the United States, and Taiwan is the 8th-largest source of imports to the United States. In 2022, the United States imported integrated circuits (chips) from Taiwan worth US$2.7 billion, an increase of 50.6 percent compared to that for 2021. The value of Taiwan's investment in the United States approved by the/Taiwan’s Investment Review Commission in 2022 is approximately US$1.08876 billion, accounting for 11 percent of the total approved foreign investment, ranking second among investment destinations in value. Taiwan has a total of 100 projects approved in 2022 for investment in the United States, ranking first in number of investment projects.

Director General Lei also said/asserted that the United States has always been Taiwan's most important agricultural trading partner. Taiwan is the seventh-largest overseas market for U.S. agricultural products, and the United States is the largest export market for Taiwan's agricultural products. In the future, Taiwan will continue to promote the "21st Century Trade Initiative" with the United States to lay a solid foundation for negotiating the comprehensive "Taiwan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement" (FTA) and the "Taiwan-U.S. Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement" (ATDA) to benefit both sides, and continue to expand investment and strengthen the industrial supply chains between Taiwan and the United States. TECO in Chicago, which represents Taiwan in a number of states in the U.S. Midwest, shall continue to deepen its presence and contributions in Wisconsin and the Midwestern states, he said, to further enhance bilateral trade, investment, and technology cooperation.

Taiwan’s strong ties with the Midwestern United States are evident. Director General Lei pointed out that the governors of Indiana and Michigan visited Taiwan in the second half of 2022 and the second half of 2023, respectively. Minnesota and Ohio have established state offices in Taiwan. Taiwan currently has economic cooperation agreements with Michigan and Indiana. Memoranda of state-to-state cooperation and educational cooperation memoranda have been signed with Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota. As for investment, among the seven Midwestern states, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin are home to most Taiwanese businesses investing in the region, with the highest number/density in Michigan, including Delta Electronics, AUO Corporation and Innolux Technology. 2023 was a banner year for Taiwan-U.S. Midwest educational cooperation, according to Director General Lei, as MOUs were signed between the University of Illinois System and the Taiwan Academic Alliance, between National Cheng Kung University and the University of Michigan, and between National Tsing Hua University and the University of Illinois System. “We also look forward to achieving more industry-academic cooperation,” he added.

WisPolitics Publishing, Inc. was co-founded in 1999 by Jeff Mayers, a former political writer of the Wisconsin State Journal. Both are headquartered in Madison, the capital of Wisconsin. It is one of the more famous online news services in the United States. On average, it has at least 120,000 regular views and users every month, and has a loyal following of/is deeply loved by readers in Wisconsin.
The link to play the interview is as follows:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/2024/talking-trade-with-director-general-dennis-yen-feng-lei-of-the-taipei-economic-and-cultural-office-in-chicago/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=talking-trade-with-director-general-dennis-yen-feng-lei-of-the-taipei-economic-and-cultural-office-in-chicago

(Photo 2:Director General Dennis Lei in an exclusive interview)