- Cooperation on island’s defence and security needs are central topics of the 2020 US-Taiwan Defence Industry Conference
- Kuomintang chairman Johnny Chiang will address delegates, indicating the party’s support for a closer US-Taiwan relationship0
South China Morning Post
Date: 5 Oct, 2020
By: Lawrence Chung
Officials and military experts from Taiwan and the United States will meet via video conference to discuss which weapons would be best for the island’s self-defence as tensions escalate between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
During the 2020 US-Taiwan Defence Industry Conference, which is expected to begin on Monday US time, Taiwan’s deputy defence minister Chang Guan-chung is expected to brief the US side on the weaponry most needed and urgently sought by the island after seeing growing military intimidation from Beijing.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have risen in the past two months since the United States sent two high-ranking cabinet officials – Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and undersecretary of state Keith Krach – to Taiwan on August 9 and September 17 respectively, moves seen as highly provocative to Beijing
Beijing has sent dozens of warplanes for deliberate incursions into Taiwan’s air-defence identification zone, with at least 37 crossing a median line
in the narrow strait between Taiwan and the mainland. The incursions were meant as a sign of Beijing’s displeasure over the visits, which were aimed at consolidating US-Taiwan substantive ties in the absence of formal relations. [FULL STORY]