On August 2, Governor Rick Scott of Florida sent a letter to President Obama in support of selling 66 F-16C/D fighter jets to Taiwan. In his letter, Governor Scott said that the sale and manufacturing of F-16 aircraft supports hundreds of skilled jobs in his state, and that the sale of new aircraft to Taiwan would save 477 direct jobs and 1,446 indirect jobs in Florida.
Governor Scott reminded the President that the window of opportunity to act on Taiwan’s request for new fighters is rapidly closing, and requested that the Obama Administration accept Taiwan’s Letter of Request for F-16C/Ds.
The United States–Taiwan Defense Industry Conference 2008 was held September 28-30, 2008 on Amelia Island, Florida. This was the seventh 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.
Keynote Addresses
The 2008 conference featured keynote a address from Chen Chao-min, Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense. Additional keynote speeches were provided by David Sedney, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense, and by John Norris, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian & Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Conference Program
Sessions at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference featureed a moderator and several speakers, and some sessions included additional commentators. Each speaker presented a short summary of a paper on the session topic from his or her own viewpoint, presentations that were then followed by a moderator-driven question and answer period, as well as a moderator-led discussion among the panelists. This format provided the maximum amount of time for exchanges between the panel and the audience, as well as between the panelists, offering a forum for substantial and valuable interaction and discussion.
Breakout Sessions
Three sub-sessions within Session IV concentrated on specific issues from a more narrow perspective. This year, the themes for the breakout sessions were Space, Information & Network Security, as well as the U.S. presidential election and potential implications for the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.
The United States – Taiwan Defense Summit was the first in a series of ongoing sector-specific events organized by the US-Taiwan Business Council. Subsequent events focused on defense and national security issues, on biotechnology, and on semiconductors. This Defense and National Security event provided the opportunity to bring together the U.S. and Taiwan government and private sectors to clarify, for both the American and the Taiwan business and policy making communities, the future of U.S. defense sales to Taiwan and the defense procurement process.
Sessions at the United States-Taiwan Defense Summit featured one moderator and several speakers. Each speaker presented a short summary of a paper on the session topic from his or her own viewpoint, and the presentation was followed by a moderator-driven question and answer period. This format provided the maximum amount of time for exchanges between the panel and the audience, offering a forum for substantial and valuable interaction and discussion. Three breakout sessions during the Monday program concentrated on each branch of the services: Army, Navy, and Air Force. These sessions consisted of roundtable discussions, focusing on the defense procurement process from the perspective of each individual branch.
Keynote speakers at this inaugural event included Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense Tang Yiau-ming, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.
