Taiwan's top diplomat in San Francisco used a Berkeley talk to argue that Taiwan's tech strength and its democracy are two sides of the same coin, a message aimed at building support for Taiwan among US and European audiences.

• Wu Chih-hsiang, head of Taiwan's San Francisco office, marked 30 years since Taiwan's first direct presidential election with a speech at UC Berkeley's Institute of East Asian Studies.
• He framed freedom, trust, and technology as Taiwan's three strategic advantages, saying its chip and AI success grew out of an open, creative democratic society, not despite it.
• He pointed to Taiwan's history under martial law, its first direct presidential vote in 1996, and its first peaceful transfer of power in 2000 as proof democracy there was hard-won, even under military pressure from China.
• On US ties, he said cooperation now goes beyond trade into chips, AI, energy, and supply chains, with Taiwanese firms expanding investment in the US, and said lasting peace in the Taiwan Strait must rest on self-determination, not force.
• He also noted Taiwan's growing visibility in California, from Silicon Valley tech firms to universities and cultural events, and cited former president Tsai Ing-wen's recent US visit as part of that outreach.

Outlook: Expect Taiwan to keep leaning on this "democracy plus tech" narrative in US and European forums to deepen ties and counter pressure from Beijing.