Vice Minister of National Defense Chang Guan-chung (張冠群) and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General York Chen (陳文政) are to attend the annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Ellicott City, Maryland, on Sunday, sources said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Jason Hsu (許毓仁) are also to attend the event, which ends on Tuesday next week, said the sources, who wished to remain anonymous.
Wang is a coconvener of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, on which Chiang also sits, while Hsu is a member of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Richard Chen (陳永康), a retired navy admiral and national defense adviser to KMT presidential candidate and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is also to attend the conference, they said.
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs David Helvey has represented the US at the conference since 2016, they added.
Helvey in 2017 attended in his capacity as US acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.
The US-Taiwan Business Council had planned to invite US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver, but whether he plans to attend is unknown, the sources said.
Schriver attended the conference in 2017 in his capacity as a partner at global business advisory firm Armitage International, according to the conference’s Web site.
This year’s conference is to stress the importance of Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific region, the sources said, adding that the government’s autonomous national defense policy would also be discussed.
The conference is an extension of the Taiwan-US Defense Business Forum held in May, they added.
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