US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference – 2009

The US–Taiwan Defense Industry Conference 2009 was held September 27-29, 2009 in Charlottesville, Virginia. This was the eight annual event in a series of ongoing conferences addressing the future of U.S. defense cooperation with Taiwan, the defense procurement process, and Taiwan’s defense and national security needs.

The first conference in this series was the St. Petersburg, Florida event where former Minister of National Defense Tang Yiau-ming gave the keynote address in March of 2002. The second conference in the series was held in February 2003 in San Antonio, Texas, the third in October 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona, the fourth in September 2005 in San Diego, California, the fifth in September 2006 in Denver, Colorado, and the sixth in September 2007 in Annapolis, Maryland. Taiwan’’s former Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min gave the keynote address at the seventh conference in the series, held in September 2008 on Amelia Island, Florida.

Keynote speakers at the 2009 conference included General Chaou Shih-chang, Deputy Minister (Armaments) at Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, Wallace “Chip” Gregson, Assistant Secretary for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense, and David Shear, Deputy Assistant Secretary for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Mongolia at the U.S. Department of Defense. Council Chairman Dr. Paul Wolfowitz was the conference host.

Sessions at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference featured a moderator and several speakers on a panel, and some sessions included additional commentators. Each speaker gave a short presentation on the session topic from his or her own viewpoint and expertise, those presentations were then followed by a moderator-led discussion among the panelists, as well as a moderator-driven question and answer period with the attendees.

This format offers the maximum amount of time for exchanges among the panelists, as well as between the panel and the audience, allowing the sessions to become a forum for substantial and valuable interaction and discussion.

There were three sub-sessions within Session IV. These sub-sessions conducted discussions focusing on current Taiwan procurement and modernization issues from the perspective of each individual branch: Army, Navy, and Air Force.