TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s representative office in Italy held a conference on Sept. 7, inviting more than 10 important news reporters and scholars to discuss Taiwan-Italy relations and the country's participation in the international arena.

Panelists said that the two nations should cooperate on semiconductors via the friend-shoring model for global supply chains, CNA reported. Friend-shoring involves a group of like-minded nations implementing policies that encourage companies to expand manufacturing within the group, according to the Washington Post.

This strategy stops other countries from “unfairly leveraging their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to disrupt the U.S. economy or those of its allies,” per the Washington Post.

Scholars noted that Taiwan's promotion of its cultural soft power has been suppressed by the politicization of its official name. They also discussed Taiwan's perspective on the current Taiwan Strait situation, the possibility of a future regional conflict, as well as the Italian general election on September 25.

The participants all affirmed and supported Taiwan's values of freedom and democracy, which are different from China's authoritarian system. They agreed that China is changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and undermining the stability and peace of the Indo-Pacific region, per CNA.

Lee Sing-ying (李新穎), the Taiwanese envoy to Italy, said that China used U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a pretext to ramp up military activities. Its attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait has seriously endangered the Indo-Pacific, as well as global peace and stability.

With regard to Taiwan-Italy relations, Lee said that in recent years, bilateral economic and trade relations have not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two and a half years. From January to July this year, Taiwan's exports to Italy increased by 36% compared to the same period last year, and Italy's exports to Taiwan also increased by about 12% over the same period last year, according to CNA.

Lee thanked the Italian Parliament for passing a pro-Taiwan resolution in April calling on the Italian government to pay attention to the situation in the Indo-Pacific and the Taiwan Strait and to be aware of the challenges posed by China's expansion in the region. He also expressed gratitude to the Italian foreign and health ministers for declaring their support for Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly.

The representative condemned China's military exercises around Taiwan and said he will continue to promote Taiwan’s meaningful participation in world organizations.