March 5, 2024
No. 081
Governor of the US state of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer led a delegation to Taiwan from March 3 to March 5 and hosted the opening reception for the Michigan Taiwan Office. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) welcomes the governor’s visit and establishment of the new trade office.
Speaking at the trade office’s opening reception on the evening of March 4, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu said that Michigan was the center of US car manufacturing and that Taiwan was Michigan’s fifth-largest source of imports and sixth-largest export destination in Asia. He stated that Taiwan was strong in semiconductor manufacturing and related industries and could work in close partnership with Michigan on supply chains, adding that Governor Whitmer had chosen a most opportune time to open the trade office and to further advance industrial and economic exchanges between the two sides.
In her remarks, Governor Whitmer shared how Taiwan and Michigan were the respective global leaders of the semiconductor and automobile industries. Building a bilateral supply chain partnership, she continued, was more important now than ever before, and the establishment of the Michigan Taiwan Office would build on the existing foundation to spur deeper trade and investment exchanges. She explained that it would also inspire greater cooperation in education, culture, and academic research.
Governor Whitmer is the first Michigan governor to visit Taiwan while in office. This marked the governor’s second trip to Taiwan in the past six months. The visit will encourage greater understanding and cooperation between the two sides’ governments, industries, and educational institutions, and will strengthen Taiwan-Michigan links in high-tech industrial supply chains. (E)