Focus on Robert Tsao, the Billionaire Who Wants to Unite the Taiwanese Against Xi Jinping’s China.
Electronics magnate spends $100 million on civil defense development to show the Taiwanese that there is strength in unity as demonstrated by the Ukrainians against the Russians.
Freshly returned to Taiwan, billionaire Robert Tsao has traded in his suits for helmets and bulletproof vests. Compared to the firm and serious look he used to show during interviews in the 1990s when he was CEO of United Microelectronics (UMC), he now wears a smiling and relaxed face, never missing an opportunity to call the leaders of the Beijing regime “gangsters” or “bandits.”
The septuagenarian has just given up his Singaporean nationality, which he had obtained in 2011, to take back his Taiwanese nationality. “How many Russian oligarchs are killed by Putin's regime while they are abroad? Communists can be extremely bad.”
To get an appointment with this former semiconductor magnate, the visitor must be screened by his team. On site, he is escorted by a bodyguard, but once he steps inside the apartment, he is rewarded with the warmest of welcomes.
“Right now, I'm certainly safest in Taipei,” says Robert Tsao.
In the apartment where he receives his guests, with a view of the city's largest park, Mr. Tsao enjoys displaying his art collection, some of which symbolize values he holds dear: a Persian gazelle horn dating from about 100 BC and gold Buddhas from Indonesia share a shelf with many classics of Chinese literature, as well as a collection of speeches by Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Wisdom is making the right decision at the right time,” says this devoted Buddhist, pointing to the book of the Ukrainian president, whose courage he admires.
But his favorite acquisition is on the center table: a silver-encrusted bronze statue of a panther and her cub. The piece is more than 2,500 years old, and dates from the Chinese Warring Kingdoms: a period that gave rise to many of the philosophers, theorists, and traditions still studied today in China and Taiwan.
Sometimes referred to as China's “first golden age,” this period ended with its unification under the Qin dynasty and paved the way for a particularly cruel period. “As a collector of works from the pre-Qin period, I can say that unification only creates harm. You never recover from it,” the billionaire laments.
At the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China, which took place from October 16 to 23, 2022, opposition to Taiwan's independence was included in an amendment to the party's constitution. China once again stressed its firm resolve to establish the “one country, two systems” formula in Taiwan, and to use force if necessary to “reunify” Taiwan.
“It is misunderstanding me to think that I have taken a stand for unification.” In 2007, by taking a stand in favor of a referendum on Taiwan's unification with China, Robert Tsao was long perceived as a pro-Beijing businessman. Many media outlets are now reporting that “he has changed sides.” But these facts are denied by Mr. Tsao himself: “What I did was propose to China a methodology to settle the Taiwan issue peacefully. But if such a referendum had been held, I would have voted against it.”
“I came back to fight a war that has been going on for years: the war of opinion.”
It was in 2019, during the pro-democracy protests that hit Hong Kong, that Mr. Tsao would have had the trigger. Struck by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and then by the war in Ukraine, the billionaire decided to donate $100 million to civil society to develop a civil defense system on August 5, 2022, at a time when the island was undergoing an unprecedented crisis, sparked by the visit of the head of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
“When the Chinese Communist Party accused Pelosi of provoking China, I thought, 'This is too much.' That's when I jumped in. China is waging psychological and propaganda warfare: they are saying that Taiwan cannot defend itself and that the United States cannot be counted on.”
For Robert Tsao, the primary mission is to unify the Taiwanese people. “That's not for everyone to do,” he points out. “That's the role I can play. Because I come from the mainland because I come from the tech industry and have contributed to the development of the island. Plus I have money and ideas.”
Mr. Tsao was born in Beijing in 1947, like 10-15% of the Taiwanese population. His family moved to Taiwan when the island was ceded by Japan to Chiang Kai-shek, who fled to Taipei in 1949. His father was a school teacher, and he grew up in Taichung City, where he studied electronic engineering. “At that time, I had no political views, I was just a pure engineer,” he recalls.
The country was still under martial law, and criticizing the government was subject to severe reprisals. In 1980, he founded United Microelectronics, Taiwan's very first semiconductor company, even before TSMC, the global giant in the industry. In Taiwan, Morris Chang, the founder of TSMC, and Robert Tsao are often referred to as “the two heroes of semiconductors.”
Marked by various waves of colonization, as well as its long-standing conflict with Communist China, Taiwan is primarily divided along identity lines. Indigenous tribes have inhabited the island for nearly 4,000 years; significant immigration from China's Fujian and Guangdong provinces took place about 300 years ago; a final wave of immigration from all over China took place in 1949, after fifty years of Japanese colonization.
“We are all different,” Robert Tsao points out. “But we have something in common: thanks to the first presidential election, in 1996, we became citizens. This is a first in Chinese history.”
The billionaire recalls that each Chinese dynasty was led by a small number of people, akin to the current Communist Party. “There are maybe 300 people, and they control all of China.” It is precise because of his attachment to the democratic system enjoyed by the island of 24 million people that the billionaire describes himself as a pure Taiwanese.
In a Taiwan sometimes considered "apathetic" in the face of the imminent Chinese threat, his actions have triggered an awareness in some. “Many people think we have no choice, but that is not true. That's why I came back,” he maintains.
The psychological aspect is, according to this new figure of the independence cause, the basis of the resistance: for him, it is useless to count on the assistance of the United States if the Taiwanese do not first show the will to fight. “Nobody wants to be a loser like Afghanistan. But if we are united, we can become an example, like Ukraine.”
Some reading
Don’t Be Fooled, Nobody Has an Interest in a War in Taiwan, Neither China nor America. The reasons are different, but both giants will do everything to preserve the current status quo.
Xi Jinping Must Face the Grumbling of Chinese Ultranationalists Who Find Him Too Soft. Their message: “With Putin, we would have already hit Taiwan”.
Central Banks Are Rushing Into Gold: 400 Tons in Q3 2022 for $20B. And Soon Bitcoin? In the new world that is coming, gold will regain its place, which will ultimately benefit Bitcoin.
Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin’s Loyal Warrior, Who Is Likely to Be Dragged Into the Fall of the Kremlin Dictator. Without his protector Putin, Kadyrov will have a hard time keeping his hand in Chechnya in the future.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Unique Economic Legacy. Everyone still remembers his question in November 2008 to economists at the prestigious London School of Economics.