A U.S. delegation of drone and anti-drone system companies have wrapped up a four-day visit to Taiwan to deepen partnerships on the unmanned aircraft technology and to reduce supply chain reliance on China. The delegation was hosted by the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S.'s de facto embassy in Taipei, and the trade arm of the U.S. commerce department.
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00:00Taiwan and the US they are looking to cooperate on the drone front with the goal of establishing a China free supply chain
00:06Now executives from US drone companies have been in Taiwan this week meeting with high-ranking military officials and with local drone makers
00:14Joyce Sun has been following these meetings for us
00:16Joyce, what do we know about these visits?
00:22Hi Eric, that's right a delegation of 26 US drone and anti drone companies are wrapping up their four-day visit
00:29To Taiwan a new milestone on a business, but also a national security level to work together on this technology
00:36This is key dual-use technology. That's proven its worth
00:41In military use for countries defending themselves against a larger enemy
00:45We've seen them being used in Ukraine and for Taiwan in the face of China's
00:51Military coercion drones are an important part of its security plans
00:55Taiwan's defense minister Wellington Koo called this visit by US drone makers Taiwan's chance to become a part of
01:02the US supply chain and
01:04co-produced drones
01:05The defense analyst in Taipei also say the fact that the US is willing to collaborate with Taiwan on this particular
01:13Technology is a major vote of confidence in their relations despite them being unofficial
01:25It's usually defined as a sensitive technology
01:30So it's only when the two sides have this mutual trust that these
01:34Defense industries have cooperation. This time it's the Department of Trade in the United States
01:40That's equivalent to the government bringing in 26 manufacturers
01:44That means the two sides are going to become a real partner
01:48Now
01:52The biggest obstacle for Taiwanese drone makers will be governance
01:57Taiwan's strength in innovation comes from its small and medium-sized businesses and now they will have the challenge of
02:04Globalizing and also complying to the rules and regulations that the u.s
02:08Expects its defense giants to follow which might not be so quick or easy to pull off Eric