The governments of Taiwan and the United States have been tight-lipped about a reported plan to jointly produce weapons that would increase the production of U.S.-designed arms and speed up their transfer to Taipei, amid China’s increasing military coercion.
The non-profit U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, however, on Wednesday confirmed in a Reuters report that the idea was in the early planning stages.
“It’s right at the beginning of the process,” said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the organization, which has a membership that includes many American defense contractors, according to Reuters.
Hammond-Chambers was cited as saying that while it was yet to be determined which weapons would be considered as part of the effort, the initiative would likely focus on providing Taiwan with more munitions and long-established missile technology.
The first report of the plan was published earlier Wednesday by Nikkei Asia, which cited multiple unnamed sources as saying that U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was considering the joint production of weapons with Taiwan in a bid to more effectively deter China.
The initial discussions on the matter focused on whether to allow American defense companies to provide weapons technology to manufacturers in Taiwan or to produce the arms in the U.S. using Taiwan-made parts, according to the Nikkei Asia report.
Asked about the news reports, U.S. State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Wednesday that he had no comment on that specifically.
“What I would say broadly is that the U.S. is looking at all options on the table to ensure that the rapid transfer of defense capabilities to Taiwan can take place as swiftly as possible,” he said. “And consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, as you know, we have made available various services and defense articles for Taiwan’s security, and the swift provision of these technologies and these services, we believe, are essential to Taiwan’s security.”
In Taipei, meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Thursday both declined to comment on the news reports.
MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) reiterated only that that U.S. government, across party lines, maintains close cooperation with Taiwan to beef up the latter’s self-defense and asymmetrical warfare capabilities through arms sales.
“The two sides continue to have regular, intensive discussions on that matter, but we have no information to share, and we are not willing to comment on the reports,” she added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel