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Taiwan-U.S. defense industry meeting to be held in Virginia

Central News Agency

2009/09/22 19:14:36

By Jorge Liu and Sofia Wu

Washington, Sept.21 (CNA) An annual conference on Taiwan-U.S. strategic security cooperation issues will be held in Charlottesville, Virginia Sept.27-29, organizers said Monday.

Now in its eighth year, the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference will bring together senior officials and academics in the field from the two countries to discuss strategic security issues of mutual concern, organizers said.

The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, which groups American companies with interests in Taiwan, has been organizing the event annually since 2002 when then-Defense Minister Tang Yiau-min represented Taiwan at the first meeting in St.Petersburg, Florida.

Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, said Monday the agenda for this year's meeting will focus on U.S.-Taiwan defense cooperation and Taiwan's future defense and security needs.

The conference will discuss Taiwan's military transformation and strategic changes, military modernization, integration and defense innovation, Hammond-Chambers said.

Wallace "Chip" Gregson, U.S. assistant secretary of defense in charge of Asia-Pacific security affairs; David Shear, deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of East Asian and Pacific affairs; and Chao Shih-chang, Taiwan's deputy defense minister, will deliver keynote speeches at the conference.

Paul Wolfowitz, a former U.S. deputy defense secretary who is now chairman of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, will moderate at the upcoming conference.

Scholars, experts and defense industry representatives from both countries will also attend the meeting.