Transcript
Jan Ye Kelek (0:00)
Taiwan. It's an island nation, one third of the size of Virginia, yet it produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips and more than 90% of the servers powering the AI revolution. And last year, it became America's fourth
Jan Ye Kelek (0:15)
largest trading partner, the Taiwan Straits itself.
Ambassador Alexander Yi (0:18)
Any conflict in that straits, it will cause a crisis much larger than what is happening on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. It's in the trillions and trillions of dollars.
Jan Ye Kelek (0:27)
In this episode, I'm sitting down with Taiwan's representative to the United States, Ambassador Alexander Yi, to understand why Taiwan matters and what's at stake as the Chinese Communist Party ramps up its campaign to isolate, intimidate and encircle Taiwan.
Ambassador Alexander Yi (0:43)
That's only the part that you see, which is a military part. But PRC has been also using other means, gray zone tactics, using disinformation, cyber attacks and other means to try to destabilize Taiwan from within. That's just an example of what we face. But they do that to other parties, including the United States.
Jan Ye Kelek (1:02)
This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Jan Ye Kelleg.
Jan Ye Kelek (1:07)
Ambassador Alexander Yi, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.
Ambassador Alexander Yi (1:11)
Thank you, Yann, for having me on your show.
Jan Ye Kelek (1:13)
Xi Jinping, the leader of Communist China, has said that he wants the People's Liberation army to be ready to invade Taiwan in 2027. There have been recent actions by the United States in Venezuela, very significant in Iran. There's still an Iran war happening. It's in a ceasefire at the moment. But the question here is, have there been any recalculations in your mind in the prc? What is Xi Jinping thinking? How is this affecting things? Are there any changes?
Ambassador Alexander Yi (1:50)
Well, of course there are. And I want to point out that as China has mentioned to the United States that Taiwan is the greatest risk factor between the relations between China and the United States. Actually, I believe that it's the other way, that the people of Republic of China is the greatest risk factor for peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and, and in the Pacific region. They're the ones who are the aggressors. They're the ones who are, as you mentioned, militarily preparing for conflict. And people, Republic of China has engaged in the largest peacetime military preparedness in human history. And I think that's unfounded because their borders are not under threat. But yet with all the things that are occurring around the world, you mentioned Venezuela, Iran and others. I think it shows a resolve from the United States to use the necessary tools to fix problems or achieve its objectives. And obviously there will be a relevance or reference to that on the Indo Pacific, in particular to the Taiwan Straits.
