Taiwan seeks more advanced weapons from US at defence industry conference
- Island delegation also pushing to integrate Taiwanese companies into American defence industry supply chain
- Taiwan has budgeted several billion US dollars for arms procurement and to build up military in next two years, deputy minister says
Taiwan is seeking to buy more advanced weapons from the United States and to integrate its companies in the US defence industry supply chain, in a new push that will again provoke Beijing.
At a time when relations between Taipei and Washington are closer than ever, the self-ruled island has sent a group of military officials and defence industry leaders to the annual US-Taiwan Defence Industry Conference in Maryland to brief the US side on their arms needs and propose new deals and projects.
Taiwan’s deputy defence minister Chang Guan-chung told the conference in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday that the island had budgeted several billion US dollars for arms procurement and to build up its defence industry.
“The Taiwanese parliament has recently reviewed the defence budget worth several billion US dollars to fund the [island’s military] needs and build a series of warplanes and vessels in the next two years,” Chang said in the speech released to Taiwanese media.
Those plans include 66 T-5s – trainer aircraft to be manufactured by Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation and rolled out in September next year – as well as building submarines, new generation patrol boats, and torpedo and missile vessels to boost the navy’s defences, he said.
Chang said Taiwan would continue to increase its defence budget to facilitate and improve its arms procurement process.