2015 US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference

The US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference 2015 was held October 4-6, 2015 in Williamsburg, Virginia. This was the fourteenth annual event in a series of ongoing conferences addressing the future of U.S. defense cooperation with Taiwan, the defense procurement process, and Taiwan’s defense and national security needs.

Keynote speakers included senior representatives from Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and from the U.S. government. US-Taiwan Business Council Chairman Dr. Paul Wolfowitz was the conference host.

Conference sessions considered Taiwan’s Legislative and Presidential elections in January of 2016 and their potential impact on the island’s defense posture. We examined potential evolutionary changes and new approaches for Taiwan, how new intellectual concepts could inform future military strategy, and how such changes in strategy might play out in procurement, arms sales, indigenous development, and budgeting.

Panelists also discussed Taiwan’s air & missile defense objectives, focusing on potential strategic changes and reviewing potential future options. Finally, we provided an update on last year’s session on Taiwan’s indigenous submarine programs, provided insight into the progress that has been made a year later, and discussed how best to ensure continued forward momentum.

Sessions at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference feature a moderator and several speakers on the panel, and some sessions may include additional commentators. Each speaker gives a short presentation on the session topic from his or her own viewpoint and expertise. Those presentations are then followed by a moderator-led discussion among the panelists, as well as a moderator-driven question and answer period with the attendees. This format offers the maximum amount of time for exchanges among the panelists, as well as between the panel and the audience, allowing the sessions to become a forum for substantial and valuable interaction and discussion.