Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells to meet growing demand, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) said on Monday.
Lin cited strong demand for 155mm shells in Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, as well as Taiwan’s own defensive requirements. If the cooperation proves successful, it could be expanded to other types of munitions, he added.
The announcement follows remarks by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) in February last year that Taiwan should improve the domestic arms industry by amending Article 22 of the National Defense Act (國防法). Chiu also proposed that Taiwan seek original manufacturer certification, and promote the development of its defense industry through international cooperation and investment, an approach that has received support in Washington.
Alexander Velez-Green, senior adviser to the US undersecretary of defense for policy, said during a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing last year — when he was a nominee for US deputy undersecretary of defense for policy — that joint weapons production could proceed by focusing on projects that are less complex and within Taiwan’s existing industrial capabilities.
The cooperation would initially involve drones and artillery shells, before being expanded to precision-guided munitions and artificial intelligence-assisted decisionmaking systems, a source said on Jan. 3.
However, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) has cautioned that even the domestic production of relatively simple munitions would likely involve higher per-unit costs than purchasing them overseas. Officials have also warned that no cooperation initiative can move forward if the opposition continues to refuse to review the defense budget.
A special act for improving defense resilience and asymmetric capabilities has already been submitted to the legislature, but it has been blocked by opposition parties and prevented from being placed on the agenda since last month.
The DPP should work to persuade Koo and opposition parties to consider the broader strategic picture. Domestic production of munitions — and potentially other arms — would help meet Taiwan’s own defense needs, while also offering the possibility of supporting US requirements in the Asia-Pacific region or those of its allies.
US officials have suggested building a munitions stockpile in Taiwan to reduce logistical burdens in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. During a legislative question-and-answer session on March 6, 2023, Chiu said that Taipei was “in talks” with the US military on relocating its East Asia stockpile to Taiwan. Domestic production would facilitate such an arrangement and improve Taiwan’s resilience against a potential blockade.
Building facilities for the domestic production of 155mm artillery shells would require upfront investment, but it would also help lower long-term costs for the military, shorten procurement times and create employment opportunities. Improved access to shells would also enhance military training. The armed forces fired 23.4 million rounds of ammunition in 2021, a figure that more than doubled to 58.81 million rounds by last year, Koo said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has said it wants greater clarity regarding how funds under the special defense budget would be spent, arguing that the government’s proposal was rushed, lacked sufficient consultation and risked bypassing legislative oversight.
The DPP should seek to address those concerns directly and publicly. Doing so could open the door to compromise over spending priorities, and to a substantive discussion of whether domestic munitions production is economically viable and in Taiwan’s long-term interest.
The nation is already engaged in humanitarian and development assistance in Ukraine. Helping to supply munitions for its war effort would be consistent with those commitments.
Joint munitions production with the US could significantly improve Taiwan’s defense self-reliance. However, the initial investment required to make such cooperation possible depends on cross-party consensus. The ruling and opposition parties should engage seriously on the issue, weighing the long-term economic and security benefits to the nation.
Jan. 1 marks a decade since China repealed its one-child policy. Just 10 days before, Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), who long oversaw the often-brutal enforcement of China’s family-planning rules, died at the age of 96, having never been held accountable for her actions. Obituaries praised Peng for being “reform-minded,” even though, in practice, she only perpetuated an utterly inhumane policy, whose consequences have barely begun to materialize. It was Vice Premier Chen Muhua (陳慕華) who first proposed the one-child policy in 1979, with the endorsement of China’s then-top leaders, Chen Yun (陳雲) and Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), as a means of avoiding the
The last foreign delegation Nicolas Maduro met before he went to bed Friday night (January 2) was led by China’s top Latin America diplomat. “I had a pleasant meeting with Qiu Xiaoqi (邱小琪), Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Venezuela’s soon-to-be ex-president tweeted on Telegram, “and we reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic relationship that is progressing and strengthening in various areas for building a multipolar world of development and peace.” Judging by how minutely the Central Intelligence Agency was monitoring Maduro’s every move on Friday, President Trump himself was certainly aware of Maduro’s felicitations to his Chinese guest. Just
A recent piece of international news has drawn surprisingly little attention, yet it deserves far closer scrutiny. German industrial heavyweight Siemens Mobility has reportedly outmaneuvered long-entrenched Chinese competitors in Southeast Asian infrastructure to secure a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, Vingroup. The agreement positions Siemens to participate in the construction of a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. German media were blunt in their assessment: This was not merely a commercial win, but has symbolic significance in “reshaping geopolitical influence.” At first glance, this might look like a routine outcome of corporate bidding. However, placed in
China often describes itself as the natural leader of the global south: a power that respects sovereignty, rejects coercion and offers developing countries an alternative to Western pressure. For years, Venezuela was held up — implicitly and sometimes explicitly — as proof that this model worked. Today, Venezuela is exposing the limits of that claim. Beijing’s response to the latest crisis in Venezuela has been striking not only for its content, but for its tone. Chinese officials have abandoned their usual restrained diplomatic phrasing and adopted language that is unusually direct by Beijing’s standards. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the
RSS