Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
WASHINGTON, 15th March. US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Senator Chris Smith on Wednesday met with Taiwan top envoy Hsiao Bi-khim and discussed a number of issues related to Taiwan’s security needs and the Chinese Communist Party’s security threats.
Chris Smith voiced his support for Taiwan and called on America to eliminate double taxation between the two nations in a meeting with Taipei Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim, according to the news reports.
Mr. Smith said in a statement issued that “Taiwanese investors pay three times the tax rate on dividends compared to investors from China, which gets even more preferential treatment than our allies Australia and South Korea,”.
According to Smith, it is unreasonable that Taiwanese investors are penalized with double taxation, especially when Taiwan is investing to manufacture semiconductors in the US.
US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, issued a statement where Smith cited the example that while investors from China are buying farmland near strategically-sensitive locations, Taiwan is investing roughly USD40 billion to build semiconductor factories in the US.
He said “The US should be disincentivising investment from Communist China while encouraging investment from democratic Taiwan-not the other way around,” he said.
On Taiwan’s security needs and the Chinese Communist Party’s security threats, Smith said, “Taiwan is a beacon of freedom and a great strategic partner who respects human rights and shares our values and aspirations.”
He said the US must stand firmly with Taiwan to counter the growing threat posed by the communist regime under Chinese President Xi Jinping, not only to Taiwan but also to US national security.
Mr. Smith thanked Taiwan for its donation of 300,000 medical masks to New Jersey residents in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices in the US and in New York assisted quickly after he contacted them for a dire mask shortage in the state in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The people of Taiwan were there for us when we were facing the worst of COVID-19, and we must have their backs in their own time of need,” Smith added.
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