The possibility of producing US arms in Taiwan might be discussed at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference next month, a researcher said yesterday.
The conference would be held from Sept. 22 to 24 in Philadelphia, and the issue of repairing and manufacturing US arms and parts might be discussed, said Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), a researcher at the government-funded think tank Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
“Taiwanese factories are definitely capable of doing arms repairs, but they would need to strengthen management before they could obtain authorization,” he said.
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The military has a lot of equipment in its arsenal that needs to be sent to the US for repairs, but that process takes time, and some older parts are no longer manufactured, he said.
“Many people have been discussing whether cooperation between manufacturers in the US and Taiwan could be improved so that some of those parts could be manufactured in Taiwan,” he said. “It is possible that through discussion, the Armaments Bureau, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, or Taiwanese manufacturers could be permitted to produce some components.”
However, since the issue involves intellectual property rights it would require authorization from the US or companies there, he said.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that US procurement regulations stipulate patent and confidentiality rights, and that the US typically makes procurement-related decisions centrally and on a case-by-case basis.
Citing an example of a possible arrangement, Su said that the US might allow parts for the Lockheed P-3 Orion submarine hunter to be produced in Taiwan, or might obtain Japanese parts for the aircraft to sell them to Taiwan.
At the first session of next month’s conference, the two sides would discuss threats ahead the US’ defense industry, while the last three sessions would cover talks on how the industry could effectively respond to global situations, Taiwan-US defense industry cooperation model and arms sales to Taiwan, he said.
“One of the key requirements for the US to authorize production of parts in Taiwan would be for companies to strengthen their management of information security to prevent technology from being leaked to China or a third party,” he said.
Taiwan would also need to establish a third-party certification platform to vet manufacturers based on transparency and other factors, he said.
“The Ministry of National Defense should also calculate the service life of old equipment and provide manufacturers with complete procurement demand planning so that they would be willing to produce parts that are obsolete or nearing obsoletion,” he said.
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