On July 25, DSET welcomed Dr. Mireya Solís, Director of the Center for Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, one of Washington D.C.’s leading think tanks. The two sides held in-depth discussions on key issues related to economic security.
Dr. Solís currently serves as Director of the Center for Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she also holds the Philip Knight Chair in Japan Studies and is a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program. Prior to joining Brookings, she was a tenured associate professor at the School of International Service at American University.
DSET CEO Dr. Jeremy Chih-Cheng Chang shared insights from the Center’s recent policy report, “Let a Hundred Flowers Blossom: Local Competition and the Rise of Chinese Semiconductor Capacity,” and led a focused exchange on U.S.-Taiwan-Japan economic security cooperation. The discussion covered Taiwan’s unique semiconductor production model and the growing challenge posed by China’s expansion in mature-node chip manufacturing. Dr. Chang emphasized that China is leveraging a nationwide strategy—combining central and local governments with the private sector—to pour vast resources and subsidies into scaling its chip industry. Without a coordinated response from democratic allies, he warned, China could soon surpass Taiwan as the world’s largest producer of mature-node semiconductors, placing critical supply chains—from civilian goods to defense systems—at risk of overreliance on China.
Dr. Solís expressed particular interest in understanding Taiwan’s policy framework for export controls, especially regarding strategic high-tech goods. She also shared relevant Japanese policy experience. Both sides agreed that Japan’s efforts to diversify its sources of rare earth materials, launched after China’s rare earth export halt in 2010, have yielded partial success and offer valuable lessons for like-minded partners.
Dr. Chang further noted that while Taiwan, as a small frontline state, cannot monopolize the complex processes of semiconductor manufacturing, it possesses core capabilities that can support future U.S. reindustrialization. He expressed hope that Taiwan could deepen multilateral cooperation with the United States, Japan, and Europe to achieve shared strategic and economic goals.
Dr. Solís is a leading expert on Japan’s foreign economic policy, international trade, and U.S. economic statecraft in Asia. She is the author of Dilemmas of a Trading Nation: Japan and the United States in the Evolving Asia-Pacific Order (Brookings Press), which received the 2018 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Award. Her most recent book, Japan’s Quiet Leadership: Reshaping the Indo-Pacific (Brookings Press, 2023), examines how Japan has emerged as a more pivotal player in Indo-Pacific geopolitics after decades of economic stagnation. The book was named one of the “Best Books of 2024” by Foreign Affairs.
