2016 US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference

The US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference 2016 was held October 2-4, 2016 in Williamsburg, Virginia. This was the fifteenth 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.

This year, conference sessions considered the regional situation in the Asia-Pacific and its potential impact on Taiwan’s self-defense, along with U.S. participation in Asia in light of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. A discussion on the process of U.S.-Taiwan defense cooperation was followed by three sessions examining the past, present, and future of such cooperation, each with a specific focus on shipbuilding, air-power, and ground-based systems. Finally, we considered how U.S.-Taiwan cooperation on information & electronic systems could allow U.S. and Taiwan companies to work together.

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.

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.