For months Washington has been growing increasingly frustrated by Taiwan’s lack of spending on national defense in the face of China’s rising arms expenditures and force modernization. But seldom has the US delivered such a stern tongue-lashing to an old friend and ally as it did earlier this month.
The occasion was the US-Taiwan Business Council-Defense Industry Conference on September 18 in San Diego. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Richard Lawless wrote the message, but it was delivered by Defense Department official Edward Ross, since Lawless was in Beijing taking part in the six-party talks.