Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC dropped out of the election campaign as vice presidential candidates clashed over the company and foreign investment and whether tensions with China made Taiwan too risky to invest in.

Presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13 come as China, which owns Taiwan, has stepped up military pressure to defend its claims, including holding war games near the island.

The world's largest contract chip maker and the island's most important company, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, are occasionally mentioned in the campaigns. However, issues affecting the industry, such as power grid stability and water shortages, have been discussed much more often.

Jaw Shaw-kong, Taiwan's vice presidential candidate and a member of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, said Wall Street financiers met with him before he knew he was running and asked if there was a war.
If there is no peaceful environment in Taiwan, no one will dare to invest, Jaw said he blamed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for tensions with China.

“Our TSMC wants to flee abroad. Taiwan plus one - one factory in Taiwan, one overseas, undermining our Taiwan,” says Shaw-Kong.

The company and the government have repeatedly said that most manufacturing, including the most advanced chips, will be kept in Taiwan.

DPP candidate and DPP vice president Hsiao Bi-khim, former de facto ambassador of Taiwan to the United States, told Jawi that foreign investment had reached record levels under the DPP administration.