Sam Yeh | Afp | Getty Images BEIJING — Figures show Taiwan is more dependent on China for trade than the US, even as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her weight behind Taiwan this week in a high-profile visit . Taiwan came under military and economic pressure from Beijing this week after the democratically self-ruled island allowed a visit by Pelosi – the highest-ranking US official to set foot in Taiwan in 25 years. The visit came despite warnings from China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and argues that the island should not have the right to maintain foreign relations. The US recognizes Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China, while maintaining unofficial relations with Taiwan. However, Taiwan’s business and economic ties with mainland China and Hong Kong have grown so much that the region is by far the island’s largest trading partner. Many major Taiwanese companies in high-tech industries, such as the world’s largest chip maker — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC. — operates factories in mainland China. Last year, mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 42 percent of Taiwan’s exports, while the U.S. had a 15 percent share, according to official Taiwanese data accessed by Wind Information. Overall, Taiwan exported $188.91 billion worth of goods to mainland China and Hong Kong in 2021. More than half were electronic components, followed by optical equipment, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance. Taiwan’s exports to Southeast Asia were even larger than those to the US — at $70.25 billion in the region, compared with $65.7 billion in the US, the data showed. As Taiwan’s source of imports, Mainland China and Hong Kong again took the top spot with a 22% share. The US had only a 10% share, ranking behind Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Growing trade with mainland China
In recent years, Taiwan has purchased an increasing amount of products from mainland China and vice versa. Over the past five years, Taiwan’s imports from mainland China have grown by about 87% compared to a 44% increase in imports from the US Taiwan’s exports to mainland China rose 71% between 2016 and 2021. But exports to the US nearly doubled, rising 97%.