The Pentagon should prioritize Taiwan arms deliveries based on risk and need rather than purchase order, US House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Rob Wittman said yesterday, warning that late shipments would be meaningless if China acts.
The Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, hosted a seminar called The Digital Front Line: Building a Cyber-Resilient Taiwan yesterday.
The seminar was moderated by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and Hudson Institute senior fellow Jason Hsu (許毓仁), and featured Wittman, KMT Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康) and cybersecurity experts.
Photo: Reuters
Wittman, who serves as a US congressman representing a district in the state of Virginia, said that the best deterrence does not necessarily come from good defense, but from good offense.
The “best chance to deter China” is by ensuring they understand what retaliation they would face if they acted, he said.
“We do not want conflict… but weakness invites conflict, while strength deters it,” Wittman said.
Any conflicts in the Taiwan Strait would likely start in cyberspace, making it crucial to deter China in the cyber domain, he said, expressing confidence that the US and Taiwan would build a strong partnership to achieve this.
When Wittman visited Taiwan in 2023, he met with former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and spoke at a press conference about US-Taiwan relations.
After he returned to the US, a fake video created by China used clips from the press conference to portray him as endorsing the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, he said.
Wittman emphasized that US-Taiwan cooperation is not only about hardware and systems, but more importantly about software.
Software would ensure data collected by the US and Taiwan is integrated into Taiwan’s systems and used in real-time to deter China, while simultaneously giving the US more situational awareness, he said.
Regarding the delay of US arms deliveries to Taiwan, Wittman said the Pentagon should determine the delivery order based on risk and need rather than the order of purchase.
Delivering arms after China acts against Taiwan “would be meaningless,” he said.
He added that the Pentagon should be aware of this, as the timely delivery of weapons supports deterrence.
In addition, Wittman said that the US government should accelerate the transfer of technology to Taiwan so it can produce items like consumables and simple equipment itself.
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