Taiwan’s premier said tougher microchip protection laws should be passed “at the earliest date” as China is eyeing the island’s talent and technology. Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang told a Cabinet meeting on April 11 that the threat from the “red supply chain,” referencing Beijing’s infiltration of the country, needed an effective deterrent, according to an official statement issued late on Monday. In February, the cabinet proposed new offenses for “economic espionage” under the national security law, setting out a punishment of up to 12 years in prison for those who leak core technologies to China. Taiwan’s parliament has yet to pass the amendment. Su called on the justice ministry to work with parliament to ensure the revisions to the law can be passed as soon as possible. Such revisions target China-backed spying, as Beijing, which claimed the democratically ruled island as its own, ramps up its economic espionage. Taiwan is …