A representative from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs is for the first time to address an annual conference on defense industry cooperation between Taiwan and the US.
Laura Cressey, director of the bureau’s Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers (RSAT), is to speak at the closed-door event, said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, which is organizing the event.
The three-day US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference started on Sunday in Richmond, Virginia.
It would be the first speech at the conference by a State Department official since 2011 and the first ever by a bureau official since the forum was launched in 2002, which Hammond-Chambers said is quite significant.
“I think it’s a demonstration of how important they feel this issue is that they are here, and not just here in presence to listen, but also to come and talk about what they feel [is] important and to hear back from us about how we can help support what they want to do,” he said.
Jedidiah P. Royal, deputy director of the US Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), is to join Cressey and other speakers.
The RSAT and DSCA handle arms sales to Taiwan directly, Hammond-Chambers said.
The purpose of the conference is to provide a platform for the US defense industry to engage with the Taiwan and US governments on security assistance between the two sides, he said.
The event is being attended by approximately 170 people, including senior business executives from Taiwan and the US, as well as representatives from the policymaking, national security, academic and think tank communities.
Taiwan’s delegation is being led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Wang Shin-lung (王信龍). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has also sent a delegation led by Alexander Huang (黃介正), director of the party’s Department of International Affairs. Wang and Huang are scheduled to speak during the conference.
This year, the conference’s focus is on China’s “overreaction” to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taiwan on Aug. 2 and 3, Hammond-Chambers said.
“Our conference will spend some time assessing the threat early on to talk about where we think it is at this juncture,” he said.
The meeting would also focus on arms sales packages to Taiwan approved by US President Joe Biden’s administration and on the prospects for the US’ proposed Taiwan policy act of 2022, he said.
The proposed act includes provisions authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in grants to Taipei from next year to 2027 to purchase US arms.
It cleared the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Sept. 14, but still needs to be passed by the US Senate and House, as well as receive approval from the White House before the end of the 117th US Congress on Jan. 3 next year, to become law.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have increased after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan — the first by a sitting US House speaker to the country in 25 years.
Beijing showed its displeasure by launching several days of large-scale military drills around Taiwan proper.
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