Recently, I lectured at 國立臺灣大學 National Taiwan University on Polish public strategies. While talking with professors and students and visiting state-of-the-art laboratories, I also learned about Taiwanese strategies. Let me tell you about one of them…

Taiwan is a global leader in semiconductor production. It provides around 60% of the world’s chip output and over 90% of the most advanced ones. The “brains” of not only consumer electronics, but also AI servers, satellites, cars, modern weapons, etc. are made here – for the USA, China, Europe, Japan and the rest of the world. This is not just business; it is also a silicon shield that gives Taiwan security. Destroying this production would be a shock comparable to suddenly cutting off all leading world economies from oil in the 20th century.

A beautiful strategy for security and development, you might think, but recently it has been facing problems. Tensions between global leaders are rising and, knowing that those who have the most advanced chips will win, they have begun a battle for control over processor supply chains. They are pressing to move Taiwanese production to their own territories, discouraging the sale of chips to competitors, warning about possible cuts in supplies, and so on. This is accompanied by very serious political and economic pressure. At the same time, there is a global race to catch up with Taiwan, and sooner or later this will happen, so before the world “de-Taiwanizes” itself, a new idea for security and development must be found. And that is by no means easy…

My thanks go to Prof. Helen Liu, Chairperson of The Department of Political Science, for the invitation, wonderful hospitality and fascinating conversations. I would also like to thank Dr. Hungdah Su, Director General, and Mr. Marc Cheng, Executive Director of the EU Centre in Taiwan, for the extremely warm welcome, the time we spent together and all their advice. My thanks as well to Ms. Christine Chen, who took care of me in an absolutely perfect way. Thanks to you, this was an excellent, very substantive and unforgettable time for me!