Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials held a series of meetings this week in Washington to discuss national security issues with US academics, politicians and members of US President Barack Obama’s administration.
For reasons of political sensitivity and protocol, they were unable to give details of the discussions or even identify the individuals involved.
DPP Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said the meetings were “useful and productive” and helped to inform the party on defense issues.
He revealed that in some meetings, the delegation was told that Taiwan needed to improve its land-based air defense capabilities and give greater consideration to underwater mines as a cost-effective way of defending the nation.
Remote, unmanned watercraft were also discussed.
“The US side was very impressed and happy to see the DPP taking defense policies so seriously and putting so much effort into them,” Wu said.
Wu and DPP Department of International Affairs Director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠) have also been to New York and are to visit Los Angeles and Houston later this month.
This summer, Wu plans to visit Taiwanese communities in Canada.
Earlier this week, the DPP released the fifth in a series of defense policy blue papers on the military threat posed by China and it was this latest paper that formed the focus of the meetings.
Wu told a press conference that the meetings had been particularly significant at a time when President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approach to defense was “increasingly weak.”
The DPP delegation was asked about a paper published last month by the prominent University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer entitled Goodbye to Taiwan.
The paper — reported last month in the Taipei Times — argues that it may be just a matter of time before China takes over Taiwan.
Liu said the bottom line was that Taiwan could not depend on any outside assistance.
He said the way that the Ma government was approaching cross-strait policies and its pursuit of a “historical breakthrough” could lead to actions that undermine the nation’s long-term defense.
“The result of that situation is that the US may not say goodbye to Taiwan, but Taiwan may say goodbye to the US,” Liu said.
He said that Ma’s budget decisions had made it very difficult for him to convince the US that the president was serious about national defense.
Wu said that by demonstrating the DPP’s commitment to national security and defense, the delegation was able to help raise the US’ confidence “in the context of this defeatism.”
He said that feedback on the DPP blue paper had been very positive.
“Even though we are in opposition, we have been shown there is plenty of room and space for us to engage on these issues,” Wu said.
He said that Taiwan needed diesel submarines, and with the US no longer making those vessels, Taipei may have to produce them indigenously.
“The consensus is that Taiwan has the capability to produce submarine hulls,” Wu said. “It is doable.”
Wu said that several US experts agreed with the DPP delegation that it would be less sensitive “and therefore more plausible” for Washington to sell Taiwan submarine components — for example navigation or weapons systems — than it would be for Washington to sell a major weapons platform.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS