Washington is pursuing opportunities to work with Taiwan to form a “non-red supply chain” for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the partnership would lead to “significant results,” Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
While Beijing is aiming to establish a “red supply chain” to dominate the global market in advanced technologies, Taiwan and other democratic nations are countering the influence of China by establishing a “non-red supply chain.”
Koo was asked about partnerships between Taiwan and the US after American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene on Friday last week said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) that the two nations could jointly produce dual-use drones and satellite systems.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Taiwan-US partnerships in researching and developing civilian and military applications began when a delegation from the US Department of Commerce visited Taiwan in September last year, Koo said, adding that they would soon generate significant results.
“The purpose of the partnerships is to use the two countries’ respective advantages to gradually reduce China’s market share in drones ... particularly in key components,” he said. “It has come to a point where it seems like we cannot avoid using China-made drone components. As such, we must build a safe ‘non-red supply chain.’ The most important thing is that Taiwan needs to have the capacity to produce drones that meet national defense requirements.”
Koo said a drone campus in Chiayi County’s Minsyong Township (民雄) would be used to research, develop and test drones, with manufacturing facilities at other locations.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) separately yesterday told lawmakers that the government remains committed to developing diverse green energy sources, while keeping the door open to “new” nuclear power under certain conditions.
He made the comment in response to Greene’s statement that the US was looking to collaborate with Taiwan to ensure its energy supply keeps pace with growing electricity demand from technology companies.
He also called nuclear power “an exciting area for cooperation going forward” between the two sides.
Reducing carbon emissions is the priority and achieving net zero is the goal, Cho said, adding that the government remains committed to developing a diverse range of green energy sources.
The government would also focus on expediting converting the remaining coal-fired power generators to gas-fired generators, he said.
Taiwan does not rule out adopting “new nuclear energy,” provided that nuclear safety is ensured and a societal consensus on its use is reached, he said, adding that the government looks forward to engaging with leaders and developers of new technologies.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese men who have a Chinese ID must still serve military service in Taiwan, as per the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Koo said.
“Once these conscripts are in the military, we would assess their performance and scrutinize their activities. They would not be allowed to handle sensitive and confidential tasks. We will also offer counseling while they live in military camps,” he said.
Koo said the government would identify men with Chinese IDs, who would receive a notification from the Ministry of the Interior.
In addition, Koo said that the Ministry of National Defense would propose an amendment to Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) to incriminate active-duty military personnel who pledge allegiance to the enemy, as such a regulation does not exist.
Under the proposed bill, active-duty military personnel who pledge loyalty to an enemy through speech, actions, words, pictures, digital records or other methods would face a prison sentence of one to seven years, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by CNA
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS