The US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference is to take place from Oct. 2 to 4 in Richmond, Virginia, the Washington-based US-Taiwan Business Council has said.
The event, a platform for dialogue on Taiwan’s national security and defense cooperation, has been held annually in the US since 2002.
The council said that 150 people from the public and private sectors of the two nations, as well as academia, are to be invited.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan’s delegation has typically been led by the deputy minister of national defense.
The 2020 conference was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Major General Yu Chien-feng (余劍鋒), director-general of the Defense Mission at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, served as Taiwan’s representative to the event.
The conference features different topics each year, and Taiwan forwards motions based on its current situation and recent Taiwan-US exchanges.
Yu last year expressed Taiwan’s hope to allow mutual military exchanges and collaborate on cyberdefense.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who has attended previous conferences, yesterday proposed that the two sides discuss concrete measures Taiwan could take to improve its national defense capabilities, including early warning and deterrence capabilities.
The two sides could also discuss what Taiwan needs for better cooperation with its allies, he said, citing the need for “bolstering C4ISR [command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capabilities.”
Two sides could also discuss ways for Taiwan to effectively counter “gray zone” tactics adopted by China, Wang added.
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