Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun has called for Taiwan to build a new generation of "sacred mountains that protect the nation" in the AI era — an upbeat message for Taiwanese industry and investors.

• For the past 40 years Taiwan's security guarantee has rested on the semiconductor "silicon shield"; now it is to rest on a whole cluster of new pillar industries.
• Alongside the two great powers, the United States and China, Taiwan is positioned as another key hub in the AI era.
• Not just semiconductors and AI hardware: traditional manufacturing, services, and agriculture and fisheries were all named as sectors that must upgrade through AI and the net-zero transition.
• The economy is to be judged not only by growth figures but also by environmental sustainability and net-zero targets.
• The goal of this "Taiwan model" is to replicate and promote it in other economies of comparable size.

Outlook: The remarks effectively make AI and the net-zero transition the central plank of the KMT's economic agenda; the question now is whether concrete policy follows.