Taipei, March 12 (IANS) The Taiwanese Defence Ministry has said that the United States is set to collaborate to form a “non-red supply chain” for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a counter to China, local media reported.
As Beijing is aiming to establish a “red supply chain” to dominate the global market in advanced technologies, Taiwan and other democratic nations are countering the influence of China by establishing a ‘non-red supply chain’.
Taiwanese Defence Minister Wellington Koo on Tuesday said that Washington is pursuing opportunities to work with Taiwan to form a “non-red supply chain” for UAVs, and the partnership would lead to “significant” results, reports the leading Taiwanese daily, Taipei Times.
“The purpose of the partnerships is to use the two countries’ respective advantages to gradually reduce China’s market share in drones, particularly in key components,” he said.
“It has come to a point where it seems like we cannot avoid using China-made drone components. As such, we must build a safe non-red supply chain. The most important thing is that Taiwan needs to have the capacity to produce drones that meet national defence requirements,” he further said.
Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Lin Chia-lung stated that Taipei plays a critical role in non-red supply chains because it is “trusted by democratic countries” and has technology important to the semiconductor industry.
In February, President William Lai stated that Taiwan hopes to strengthen cooperation with the US in critical technologies and innovations to jointly build a safe and resilient non-red supply chain, according to local media reports.
“We believe that closer Taiwan-US exchanges and cooperation not only benefit national security and development but also align with the common economic interests of Taiwan and the US,” he added.
This adds to a significant development that took place in 2019 when Taiwan passed a law to encourage its firms to build a non-red supply chain outside of China and offered cheap finance, tax breaks, and simpler administration to invest in its territory.
–IANS
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