INTERVIEW/Boosting Taiwan's domestic defense capacity critical: Ex-U.S. official

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Taiwan should urgently strengthen its domestic defense manufacturing capabilities to become more self-reliant in a crisis and give potential allies more time to respond, a visiting former United States defense official has said.

Jedidiah Royal, former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told CNA in Taipei on Tuesday that developing Taiwan's indigenous defense industry is a time-sensitive priority.

Royal said many in Washington were disappointed after Taiwan's opposition-controlled Legislature passed a special defense budget in May that removed funding for domestic defense production originally proposed by the Cabinet.

The opposition's decision suggested some in Taiwan were not feeling "the same urgency that I feel right now of the importance of developing Taiwan's domestic defense manufacturing capacity," he said.

"But hopefully, we can see that rectified in the coming months," Royal said.

Following passage of the special budget approving NT$780 billion (US$24.2 billion) in funding to buy U.S.-made weapons, Taiwan's Cabinet proposed a separate six-year special budget totaling NT$210 billion to procure domestically produced drones.

The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) countered by proposing a NT$240 billion budget for drones made in Taiwan, but they want the funding to come out of the general budget rather than from a separate special budget funded by issuing debt.

Royal said that in the event of a crisis or conflict along the First Island Chain -- which stretches from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines and Malaysia -- U.S. forces would likely first deploy to Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Australia before determining their next steps.

"We have to rely on the defense industrial capacity that exists in the region. We can't create that on the spot," he said.

"That's the forward defense industrial base that I think needs to continue to push the way that we communicate with allies and partners about our own national security requirements and what we're looking for out of this," according to Royal.

Taiwan should continue strengthening its ability to counter a potential joint amphibious landing campaign by China, slowing any invading force before it can advance farther inland, he said.

In addition, Taiwan needs to ensure it can maintain sea and air lines of communication and protect critical infrastructure, he said.

"So to me, Taiwan being able to create time with its military strategy is absolutely critical. And so long as Taiwan is focused on that, then I do think that you've given the rest of the world every opportunity to come and cooperate alongside you in that most challenging scenario," Royal said.

Royal is visiting Taiwan for the first time to speak at the 10th Ketagalan Forum, a one-day conference on Indo-Pacific security jointly organized Tuesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.