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U.S. defense contractors to visit Taiwan, discuss weapons production: Experts

ROC Central News Agency

04/12/2023 10:01 PM

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) A reported visit by a group of United States defense contractors to Taiwan in May would involve discussions of the stockpiling of weapons needed to enable Taiwan to hold out in the event of an attack and blockade by China's military as well as the possibility of producing U.S. weapons on the island, local experts said on Wednesday.

Around 25 U.S. defense contractors plan to send representatives to Taiwan in early May to discuss joint production of drones and ammunition, a Nikkei report published on Tuesday quoted U.S. Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers as saying.

The delegation to be led by Steven Rudder, the retired commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, would become the first large group of American defense industry envoys to visit Taiwan since 2019, according to Nikkei.

The critical ammunition shortage Ukraine's armed forces encountered in defending the country against Russia's invasion is a lesson that should be learned by Taiwan and its allies, Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Ministry of National Defense's think tank Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), told CNA.

Given the possibility that China might carry out a blockade of Taiwan to choke off its supplies of ammunition, it would be "imperative" that the U.S. co-produce weapons with Taiwan on the island, in addition to storing ammunition in the Philippines and Japan, to enhance Taiwan's self-defense capability and allow it to hold out before the U.S. comes to its assistance, Shen said.

Since 2018, the U.S. has adopted a strategy that outsources its defense manufacturing supply chain only to its allies amid worries that China might secure access to technologies in weapon production, Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the Taiwan government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said.

The upcoming visit would convey a message about the degree to which Taiwan and the U.S. have built up "mutual trust" with each other, Su said.

Asked by CNA for comments, Chou Yu-ping (周宇平), a retired Air Force colonel from the Ministry of Defense's Missile Defense Command, said the visit is expected to facilitate discussions between Taiwan and the U.S. about cooperation on defense technologies.

Chou noted, however, that American companies usually need to acquire authorization from the U.S. government to jointly manufacture weapons with overseas partners.

In addition, if Taiwan and the U.S. were to produce weapon systems together, Taiwan's military will need to first assess the combat capability of the said equipment to make sure they pass its standards for operational tests and evaluation, Chou said.

As a result, it will take some time before one can conclude whether the visit will yield concrete results, he added.

(By Matt Yu, Wu Sheng-hung and Shih Hsiu-chuan)

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