The outcome of the U.S. presidential and congressional elections in November could decide what military hardware Taiwan is able to procure in the future. TaiwanPlus speaks to Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, to learn more.
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00:00With U.S. elections coming up in November, I want to take a look at U.S. arms sales from
00:05both administrations that are going to run.
00:08Looking at the Harris administration, what can we expect in terms of future cooperation
00:11with Taiwan and providing weapons to Taiwan?
00:15I think what we can expect is tightly managed security assistance.
00:20There quite rightly will be focus on training.
00:23There will quite rightly be focus on political engagement as it relates to defense issues.
00:29In respect to arms sales, we'll see a steady cadence as we have done through Mr. Biden's
00:35government, but it will be tightly managed.
00:38Even though we've had a good number of arms sales to Taiwan over the Biden administration,
00:43they've been modest.
00:44And as U.S. TBC, the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council has noted, they have been almost exclusively
00:50sustainment and munitions.
00:54No larger platforms, no focus on the sorts of platforms and systems that can assist with
01:00blockade, with quarantine, with gray zone.
01:03That for the most part has been completely ignored.
01:08And we've seen what a Trump administration has provided to Taiwan in this time in office.
01:13What can we expect from part two of a potential Trump administration?
01:16Are we going to see a continuation of these big ticket purchases, these really expensive
01:21platforms to Taiwan for its defense?
01:25I mean, just the data quickly, going back through the Clinton administration, Mr. Trump's
01:30sold more weapons in four years than the Clinton administration sold in eight, the Bush administration
01:36sold in eight, the Obama administration sold in eight, and Mr. Biden's government sold
01:40in four.
01:41So certainly we had a permissive environment and, you know, it was partly related to the
01:48fact that the process had been broken under Mr. Obama and that it needed to be fixed.
01:53There had been an extended arms freeze during the Obama administration.
01:57So there was a great deal of pent up demand and that was released into a permissive environment.
02:05And as you correctly note, we got some large sales.
02:10Former President Trump has made some pretty controversial comments about Taiwan not paying
02:14for its defense.
02:15Do you think that sat well with Taiwan?
02:18Do you think it's going to make maybe Taiwan think twice about engaging with the United
02:21States and instead going maybe elsewhere to find weapons and defense assistance against
02:27the threat it's facing?
02:29Taiwan has nowhere else to go other than the United States.
02:32The United States is the most powerful military in the world comfortably.
02:37And there is no, there is no going the other way.
02:40A partnership with the United States is essential to Taiwan's sovereignty.
02:44So that's, that's not the issue at play here.
02:48I think what's important is to understand the context of Mr. Trump's comments.
02:53The way, where I put them was in the same context as Mr. Trump's comments and pressure
03:00on Korea and Japan in his term in office, where he raised the pressure on them to do
03:06more, to expend more, to contribute more to their own defense.
03:11But I think, and in fairness, there's bipartisan consensus here.
03:15Taiwan does need to do more.
03:16Taiwan does need to spend more.
03:18And in that regard, he's absolutely right.