U.S., Taiwan committed to co-producing weapons, but issues exist: Expert

Philadelphia, Sept. 24 (CNA) The United States and Taiwan are "100 percent" committed to jointly manufacturing weapons, but the complexities involved in such an arrangement could pose challenges ahead, a defense expert said Tuesday.

There is a "great deal of momentum right at the very top of the U.S. government and the Taiwan government for co-production [weapons]," Rupert Hammond-Chambers told CNA on the sidelines of the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia that ended Tuesday.

Both sides' commitment to co-production is "100 percent," he said, but acknowledged that many details still needed to be sorted out.

"I don't think it's a matter of if there will be co-production, it's a matter of what will be co-produced, and when will it be co-produced," he said.

Hammond-Chambers said the cost-effectiveness of joint production and the buyers that would be targeted for such products given the sensitivity of the "one-China" policies upheld by most countries around the world would also have to be considered.

Other issues, including who will be the next U.S. president or potential attempts by Taiwan's opposition parties to cut defense spending in the years to come, could also cause "significant political problems," he said.

"These big issues all have to be worked at, and we are in the early stages of working that out," he said.

Hammond-Chambers made the remarks when asked to comment on the prospect of the U.S. and Taiwan co-producing weapons after people from both governments expressed interest in the idea during the latest U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference held Sunday to Tuesday.

Since its debut in 2002, the annual conference has facilitated engagement between the U.S. defense industry and the governments of Taiwan and the U.S. on security matters, according to the event's organizer, the US-Taiwan Business Council.

Hammond-Chambers is president of the council.

During this year's three-day gathering, Taiwan's Vice Defense Minister Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞), who led Taiwan's official delegation, openly urged Washington to include Taipei in a list of countries with which it engages in joint or licensed production of weapons.

In his keynote speech, Hsu expressed hope that the U.S. will allow Taiwan to join other countries such as Japan and Australia in the joint or licensed production of parts and components needed for F-16 jets and drones, helping the U.S. boost its exports of those weapon systems to its allies.

Hsu also called on Washington to revise its laws and regulations related to technology transfers, which he said currently involve significant bureaucracy and cause delays in Taiwan's acquisition of core technologies or parts necessary for developing weapons.

Also Monday, Jedidiah Royal, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said the U.S. will soon launch the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR).

The U.S. will chair an inaugural meeting of the PIPIR in Hawaii in two weeks, a source who attended the closed-door speech cited Royal as saying.

The PIPIR will be launched with at least 12 U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific and Europe, including Taiwan, to address supply chain constraints regarding weapons, Royal said, according to the source.

It is expected to jump-start collaborations with U.S. allies, including Taiwan, to address "defense industrial base (DIB) vulnerabilities" by fast-tracking the production of weapons systems, the source quoted Royal as saying.

Royal underlined the importance of collaboration with the U.S.' Indo-Pacific allies, citing as examples its projects with Japan to jointly produce missiles and with India to co-produce fighter jet engines, according to the source.