Media Mention: Council President talks about Taiwan-U.S. military cooperation on NTD News

US-Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers appeared on NTD News on June 8, 2022. He talked about military relations and defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan. The relationship was in the spotlight after a military incident in Hawaii where a Taiwan F-16 fighter jet, piloted by a U.S. Air Force pilot, was forced into an emergency landing while transporting the plane from the U.S. to Taiwan.

This demonstrates just how close the cooperation is between the U.S. and Taiwan. We’ve long had Air Force cooperation with Taiwan both for training here in the continental United States, as well as robust support for Taiwan’s F-16 fleet. … When the new transports of F-16s are bought through 2023-2026, Taiwan will have one of the largest – if not the largest – F-16 fleet in Asia.

 

[On Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ] 100% we can expect to see more of this. This is part of China’s well established Gray Zone activities. They have two primary designs. The first is to coerce and pressure the Taiwan people into the Chinese position that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China. That, of course, has never been the case. But nevertheless, those activities are designed to place political pressure [on Taiwan] through military action. Secondly – and I think this is also important, perhaps somewhat less so – the Chinese are training increasingly around the island of Taiwan. With an increasing number of airplanes and an increasing variety of airplanes, it allows them to improve their interoperability. They are also information gathering, and also gauging how well the Taiwan military responds to these incursions.

 

The rise in support for Taiwan sovereignty from Taiwan citizens continues. Their support for some kind of unification with China is low, and continues to fall for whatever remains of Taiwan’s population that sees that as a positive. … We would be cavalier to disregard China’s military, as they invest enormous sums of money both in procuring modern kit as well as training with it to improve their ability to use it.

 

I think we are going to see more cooperation [between the U.S. and Taiwan] in strategic areas. Semiconductors are obviously the big issue of the day, and that is not going away. Semiconductors are so important for the lifeblood of the global economy, and Taiwan finds itself at the center of that. Along with, not coincidentally, us here in the States, as well as in Japan. … And I would argue that what we are going to increasingly see in the next few years is an increased cooperation between those three countries. Cooperating on semiconductors parochially, but more generally in areas of technology cooperation, pharmaceutical cooperation, and a whole range of other areas that Taiwan has strengthened and that the United States wants to capitalize on.

Source: NTD News