Taipei Security Dialogue Opens With Focus on Cross-Strait Stability and Drone Defense

Security experts and policymakers from the United States, Britain, Japan, Australia, Germany, Ukraine, and Poland gathered in Taipei on Wednesday for a defense forum addressing Indo-Pacific security challenges. The event, organized by Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, centered on the global economic and democratic stakes of a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's Vice President, Bi-khim Hsiao, opened the dialogue by underscoring the island's readiness to share its defense experiences with international partners. She framed stronger preparation as essential for preserving peace and safeguarding the freedom of Taiwan's people to determine their own future.

Hsiao drew attention to lessons from recent conflicts, noting that the Middle East situation has highlighted the urgent need for cost-effective air defense systems, particularly against drones operating on land and at sea. She also pointed to the Strait of Hormuz as a demonstration of how maritime disruption can ripple through economies far beyond the immediate region.

Emphasizing maritime domain awareness, Hsiao called for deeper international cooperation, including intelligence sharing and the adoption of open-source intelligence tools to improve situational awareness. She reiterated Taiwan's opposition to any unilateral change of the status quo by force or coercion, stating that the island is working with partners to make that position effective in practice.

Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, warned that a conflict across the strait would carry a global economic cost exceeding that of the Second World War, beyond the immediate human toll. He described preserving peace in the Indo-Pacific as a top priority for the current U.S. administration.

Greene outlined a three-pronged approach: vigorous high-level diplomacy, including an upcoming U.S.-China summit aimed at strategic stability; reinforcing U.S. presence and partnerships along the first island chain to maintain a favorable balance of power; and supporting Taiwan's efforts to enhance its self-defense capabilities.