TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is headed to Taiwan to seek cooperation to transform his state into a drone production hub.
Stitt is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan on Sunday (Sept. 29) for a five-day visit, Bloomberg reported. He will lead a delegation of industry leaders to meet with Taiwanese business representatives and visit a government R&D center.
The group aims to partner with Taiwanese drone parts suppliers and expand investment in the East Asian nation. In July, Oklahoma received US$51 million (NT$1.6 billion) in federal funds to build a hub in Tulsa specializing in autonomous technologies, including drones.
The forthcoming visit comes as a US drone delegation is wrapping up a trip to Taiwan.
The delegation includes drone business representatives and government officials who met with Taiwanese counterparts to discuss ways to help US companies find non-Chinese suppliers and manufacturing partners. Participating US companies included Dedrone, which specializes in counter-drone systems, and Northrop Grumman.
Taiwan held the inaugural meeting of a “drone alliance” of more than 50 companies earlier this week. The alliance, established by Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), includes MITAC, Thunder Tiger, Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp., and Geosat Aerospace.
The alliance’s founder and AIDC Chair, Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), said the goal is to assess the capabilities of member companies and secure international business matchmaking opportunities.
As the China threat continues to grow, Taiwan and the US have prioritized the decoupling of supply chains linked to the authoritarian nation. Taipei and Washington have also sought ways to deepen cooperation in drone technology and production as UAVS have become an increasingly capable platform for civil and military use.
Jedidiah Royal, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, announced that the US will soon establish an Indo-Pacific resilience partnership with allies and partners from the region and Europe, with Taiwan playing a key role.
The Pentagon will host the first meeting in Hawaii in approximately two weeks, with at least 12 Indo-Pacific and European allies participating, Royal said during a closed-door meeting at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia.
