Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs ( Katie Hobbs ) attended the inauguration ceremony of an economic and cultural office with Taiwanese leaders on Monday. Despite pressure from the Chinese government to prevent its establishment, this institution will still provide support for local Taiwanese businesses and residents.

Taiwan stated that this newly established Phoenix City office is its 14th office in the United States, which will promote technological cooperation, particularly in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and better serve the growing number of Taiwanese immigrants in the area.

According to documents provided by the governor's office to The Associated Press, after announcing the plan to establish the office in July, Hobbs received two letters from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, requesting her to oppose this proposal.

In a letter dated July 3, Chinese authorities called on the governor to “refute such attempts by the Taiwan authorities and stop any political manipulations that damage the friendship and cooperation between China and Arizona.” This stance was reiterated in another letter on August 21.

Phoenix Radio Station KJZZ was the first to report on these letters.

Hobbes emphasized the connections between Arizona and Taiwan during the opening ceremony on Monday.

Hobbes said, "Every elected official in Arizona should demonstrate the courage necessary to support the partnership between Arizona and Taiwan. As our economic partnership continues to grow, we are mobilizing all available resources to support Taiwanese companies that wish to expand their business in Arizona."

Beijing regards Taiwan as an inalienable province of China, while Taiwan considers itself to be a separate political entity from the Chinese mainland and has its own government. Scholars say that as Sino-US relations have deteriorated over the years, cooperation between the Chinese government and Taiwan at the local level has also become more politicized.

Liu Chang, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said in a statement on Monday: "China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between Taiwan region of China and the United States, including those with the federal and state governments of the United States."

Taiwan is continuously expanding its economic footprint in Arizona. TSMC, a leading chip manufacturer ( TSMC ), has pledged to invest an additional $100 billion to expand its operations in northern Phoenix. This brings its total investment there to $265 billion, making it the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history.

Xu Yuren ( Jason Hsu ), a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute ( Hudson Institute ) and a former legislator from Taiwan, stated that approximately 500 Taiwanese engineers are working to increase production at TSMC's factory in Arizona.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego ( Kate Gallego ) also stated that there is a kind of "baby boom" occurring in the city's Taiwanese community, to the extent that some maternity wards have even begun to offer Mandarin language programs.

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Reported by Tang Didi ( Didi Tang ) from Washington.