Deputy Minister of National Defense Wang Shin-lung (王信龍) on Monday called for global efforts to contain Chinese security threats, including through joint military exercises, a strategic communication platform and the sharing of drone signals.
In his keynote address at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, Wang, who is leading a delegation of defense officials to the annual event in Richmond, Virginia, said the Russian invasion of Ukraine would likely significantly decrease Moscow’s security threat to the region.
However, China has continued its expansion and is bound to seriously affect regional and global security, Wang said.
Photo: CNA
He called on a global democratic alliance to remain on high alert to China’s rise and cooperate in strategically containing the expansion of the Chinese Communist Party.
To beef up Taiwan’s defenses, Wang proposed three major strategies: strengthening information sharing with allies, building up war reserves and better protecting key communications infrastructure.
In terms of military cooperation with the US, Wang said that Taipei hopes to establish an “intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance” sharing mechanism with Washington and enhance routine high-level official dialogue.
Following his speech, Wang told Taiwanese reporters that his delegation had “productive” meetings with the US side during the conference held from Saturday to yesterday.
“In the closed-door meetings, we have had candid exchanges concerning the obstacles and possible risks we are facing in terms of US arms sales, while the US side pledged it would do its best in helping Taiwan to solve these problems,” Wang said.
He also said Taipei and Washington have reached a consensus concerning the Taiwanese military’s buildup of its asymmetric warfare capability.
The most important task at hand for Taiwan is to make the most of every dollar it spends on its defense needs, he said.
“How we make the best use of our limited defense budget in a timely fashion to boost Taiwan’s defense capabilities in the coming years will be the most critical task we face,” he said.
Aside from the official Taiwan delegation led by Wang, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also sent a delegation led by its head of international affairs, Alexander Huang (黃介正).
In his address on Monday, Huang said that KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has called for a “double-D strategy,” which stands for “defense and dialogue,” meaning Taiwan has to build up its defense capabilities while keeping a channel for dialogue open with China for threat reduction and crisis management.
To the KMT, Taiwan’s defense priorities should include improving its asymmetric operation capabilities “by rebalancing military investments and acquiring defense systems that are necessary and available for near-term contingencies.”
He also called on Taipei and Washington to conduct joint strategic assessments to increase their common interests and facilitate cooperation.
Meanwhile in Taipei, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) yesterday said that US funding for military support to Taiwan would be a great boon that would be invested appropriately, but it would not change the direction of Taiwan’s preparations.
Chiu made the comments during a question-and-answer session at the legislature after being asked about the US’ proposed “Taiwan policy act,” which states that the US would provide US$6.5 billion in military aid to Taiwan.
KMT Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) also asked whether the military would discuss the possibility of purchasing a Constellation-class frigate from the US.
The multimission guided-missile frigate that the US Navy is developing might look good on paper, but the government needs to set clear guidelines on its purchases to ensure that they do live up to expectations and would not become a liability, Chiu said.
Chiu added that there are conditions for lend-lease initiatives, and it is meaningless to consider purchases without knowing what needs are being set.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu and Huang Ching-hsuan
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,