US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said the creation of the Taiwan Goal arms firm was not the way to go if Taiwan wants to play a role in the global security support industry.
Rather, Hammond-Chambers said on Friday, Taiwan should take advantage of its world-class private technology industries, whose expertise it can leverage to become a greater player in the world security equipment scene.
Hammond-Chambers made his comments during a presentation in Washington of a private report on the future of US-Taiwan relations at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank.
"I question the proposition that Taiwan needs another quasi-state owned defense company," Hammond-Chambers told the Taipei Times after the presentation.
While the government has insisted that Taiwan Goal would be a privately controlled entity, reports have said that 45 percent of its capital came from the Ministry of National Defense and that the ministry could hold control of the board of directors.
"If Taiwan is to truly leverage its strength in the global defense support market, it has to be with private technology companies," Hammond-Chambers said.
Taiwan "has to get them involved in research and development and has to get them in partnerships with global technology companies" so that "they can change into global security companies," he said.
"Where Taiwan can gain the most is by energizing and leveraging the skills of its technology companies," Hammond-Chambers told the AEI presentation.
This would "truly begin to leverage some of Taiwan's strengths and create some very interesting security technologies that won't just be applicable to Taiwan, but will actually be relevant to the global security market," Hammond-Chambers said.
Hammond-Chambers also supported a proposal advanced at the AEI presentation by Mark Stokes of the Project 2049 Institute of a "Defense Procurement Agreement" between the US and Taiwan.
Such an agreement would be a "subset" of the current Government Procurement Agreement between the two countries, Stokes said.
Stokes, a specialist on Taiwan security, was a member along with Hammond-Chambers of the working group behind the report on future US-Taiwan relations.
"Taiwan industry should leverage the trends going on with the globalization of the defense industry," Stokes said.
Looking at other industries in the US defense supply chain, "Taiwan industries are by and large absent."
Stokes suggested a "work sharing arrangement" between the US and Taiwan.
This would include the Defense Procurement Agreement, which would allow "the Taiwan defense industry to participate in defense contracts on both sides of the Pacific Ocean," he said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS