The organisers of an event to be held in Taipei for Taiwan and the United States to discuss arms sales say they have not committed to hold the meeting on an annual basis – a move seen by analysts as an attempt to play down the significance of the forum due to concerns over a possible backlash from Beijing.
A US-Taiwan defence industry conference has been held in the United States annually over the past 16 years, but both sides agreed that from 2018 they would take turns to host the event and the conference would now take place twice a year, a Taiwanese military source has previously told the South China Morning Post.
The US-Taiwan Business Council has now confirmed to the Post that it was working with the Taiwan Defence Industry Development Association for “a day seminar/forum and lunch keynote” possibly in early May to discuss defence industry cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.
