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
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS