Senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) representatives held talks in the US this week on Taiwan’s national security and a greater role for its indigenous defense industry.
Following the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference earlier in the week in Williamsburg, Virginia, the officials met with US defense industry executives, Washington officials and think tank academics.
DPP Representative to the US and Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and New Frontier Foundation Defense Policy Advisory Committee Convener York Chen (陳文政) told a press conference on Thursday that their conversations had been “very fruitful.”
Citing diplomatic sensitivities, they refused to identify who they met, but Wu said cross-strait relations were discussed and the US wanted the DPP to be a “predictable and stable partner.”
He said they also talked about trade issues and other aspects of US-Taiwan relations.
“The US side is more interested and curious about what defense policy would look like under a DPP administration,” Chen said.
He said that while there was a broad consensus on defense policy, the DPP differed from the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in that the DPP not only supports the building of indigenous submarines, but also wants to develop the domestic defense industry to play a major role in producing most other needed weapons systems.
Chen called for more links and interactions between Taiwan and US defense industries.
“We would like to see greater interaction between private-sector contractors in Taiwan and the defense industry in the US,” he said.
Chen said that kind of cooperation at the management and technical levels does not yet exist.
Wu said the DPP was trying to focus more on gaining US assistance for indigenous production of a wide range of weapons systems and that, while no commitments had been made, he felt that constructive steps had been taken.
He said that the DPP wanted to bolster self-defense well beyond the production of indigenous submarines, to include fighter planes and most other weapons systems.
“It would provide us with self-reliance, not having to depend on others. There is much we can do by ourselves,” Wu said. “Taiwan is facing tremendous difficulties in buying some of the key weapons we need for defense.”
Wu said the DPP wanted to enhance the nation’s industrial capabilities to improve self-defense and that such a move would be beneficial to both Taiwan and the US.
“Taiwan needs to have the defense capability to maintain peace and stability in East Asia, and that will be a win-win formula for Taiwan and the US,” he said.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said