On May 22, 2025, Dr. Jeremy Chih-Cheng Chang, CEO of DSET, and Tsai-Ying Lu, Director of the Energy Resilience and Sustainability Program, visited the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo—Japan’s leading think tank on foreign and national security policy—for a closed-door dialogue with resident scholars.
JIIA operates under the auspices of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has long been regarded as a central institution in shaping the country’s foreign and national security strategies. In recent years, JIIA has also expanded its research and policy engagement in the domains of economic security and emerging technologies in response to the growing impact of geopolitical shifts and technological change on Japan’s external affairs.
The dialogue focused on Taiwan–Japan cooperation in economic security, covering a wide range of topics including collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI) supply chains, energy resilience strategies, and the development of a “non-red supply chain” for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Dr. Chang emphasized that Taiwan and Japan, due to their geographic proximity and strategic complementarity, are indispensable partners in both geopolitical and geoeconomic terms. He noted that Taiwan’s expanding semiconductor presence in Kyushu presents an opportunity to deepen mutual interdependence in advanced manufacturing. Dr. Chang further stressed Taiwan’s ongoing efforts to build a competitive and secure UAV supply chain independent of the PRC (“non-red”), not only to strengthen its industrial base but also to enhance preparedness for potential cross-strait contingencies. He expressed hope that Taiwan and Japan could initiate concrete cooperation in this critical area.
Director Lu, for her part, addressed the resilience of regional natural gas supply chains and explored how Taiwan and Japan could collaborate to reinforce energy security across the Indo-Pacific region.
Both sides agreed to pursue deeper exchanges on shared policy priorities and to broaden the scope and depth of Taiwan–Japan Track 1.5 and Track 2 dialogues.
