TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, said he expects the US to approve multiple arms deals for Taiwan once the Legislative Yuan passes the proposed special defense budget.
Speaking at the 24th US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Maryland, Hammond-Chambers said there could be a surge in large-scale arms sale notifications once the budget is approved, CNA reported. His comments echoed Randall Schriver, chair of the Virginia-based think tank Institute for Indo-Pacific Security.
Schriver said he believed Washington would support more arms sales if the special budget were as large as Taiwanese officials have described. The US appears to be waiting for Taiwan to “put its money where its mouth is” by passing the special budget, he said.
Asked about the lack of new arms sales announcements under the second Trump administration, Hammond-Chambers said this was normal. It usually takes up to a year for a new administration to issue its first arms sale notification, he said.
Regarding delays in weapons deliveries to Taiwan, Hammond-Chambers said that only the US$8 billion (NT$261.46 billion) F-16 fighter jet deal and another program worth less than US$1 billion have faced delays, and that most of the backlog has already been resolved.
Hammond-Chambers said that despite the US government shutdown, officials from the defense and state departments will attend and speak at the defense industry conference, which runs from Oct. 20–21. This demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to this event and to US-Taiwan defense ties, he said.
He added that discussions will cover lessons from the wars in Gaza and Ukraine for Taiwan, as well as joint US-Taiwan weapons production and development.
The event features five sessions. The first will assess Taiwan’s national security challenges and examine how it is responding to them.
The second continues that discussion and analyzes potential responses to identified security challenges. The third will review current issues in political warfare and explore existing and potential countermeasures.
The fourth focuses on how structural or tactical adjustments could bolster Taiwan’s societal resilience and total defense. The fifth looks at electromagnetic spectrum warfare and potential strategies to strengthen Taiwan’s resilience and readiness.
