Taiwan is selling more to the US than China in major shift away from Beijing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Whether it’s tapioca balls or computer chips, Taiwan is stretching toward the United States and away from China — the world’s No. 2 economy that threatens to take the democratically ruled island by force if necessary.

That has translated to the world’s biggest maker of computer chips — which power everything from medical equipment to cellphones — announcing bigger investments in the U.S. last month after a boost from the Biden administration. Soon afterward, a Taiwanese semiconductor company said it was ending its two-decade-long run in mainland China amid a global race to gain the edge in the high-tech industry.

These changes at a time of an intensifying China-U.S. rivalry reflect Taiwan’s efforts to reduce its reliance on Beijing and insulate itself from Chinese pressure while forging closer economic and trade ties with the United States, its strongest ally. The shift also is taking place as China’s economic growth has been weak and global businesses are looking to diversify following supply chain disruptions during the pandemic.

In a stark illustration of the shift, the U.S. displaced mainland China as the top destination for Taiwan’s exports in the first quarter of the year for the first time since the start of 2016, when comparable data became available. The island exported $24.6 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in the first three months, compared with $22.4 billion to mainland China, according to Taiwan’s official data.

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