Growing “frustration” in Taiwan over the United States’ ability to deliver promised weapons is a “serious” problem as China steps up disinformation and military pressure, top defense experts say.
President and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute David Trulio spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com last weekend at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
Trulio recently led a delegation to Taiwan with several defense and foreign relations experts. He said several important insights emerged from the trip, but the first was that “democracy is alive and well in Taiwan.”
“All political parties are committed to maintaining that very robust, vibrant democracy,” he continued ahead of the next elections in January.
But Trulio described some “frustration” over the United States’ ability to “deliver the weapons it has contracted,” which he said has “serious consequences for the defense industrial base.”
Trulio, who served in the Pentagon as a senior adviser and chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy, said the U.S. defense industrial base is “under stress.”
This is due to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, he said.
“But our inability to supply Taiwan when the country has actually contracted for these weapons is a serious problem. So that’s something that I think really needs to be part of the national conversation, the broad health of the U.S. defense industrial base.”
Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Heino Klinck, who also traveled with the delegation to Taiwan, echoed Trulio’s concerns.
“While always friendly and grateful for US support, Taiwanese interlocutors have begun to express a growing sense of skepticism and concern about the US’s ability to deter aggression,” Klinck told DailyMail.com.
He cited the “reckless withdrawal” from Afghanistan, the “patchy material support” for Ukraine and the inability to deliver defense items to Taiwan on time.
Klinck, who currently co-chairs the board of the National Bureau of Asian Research, says the Biden administration’s “long list of national security problems” is also “fueling” Chinese disinformation and disinformation campaigns.
Chinese propaganda “systematically sows doubt about America’s continued power in Taiwan and elsewhere,” he explained.
Trulio also mentioned the “relentless pressure” the Chinese are putting on Taiwan economically and also through disinformation.
“And it’s very ominous, it’s unrelenting, and that’s something that really needs to be addressed,” he explained, especially before Taiwan’s “critical” upcoming elections in January.
The Chinese use a ‘whole portfolio’ of pressure tools, including TikTok, but mainly economic coercion and also military pressure.
He said China is using sanctions or other economic pressure tactics on various parts of Taiwan, even to influence voters there.
Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, Heino Klinck, also traveled to Taiwan with the delegation
Representative Ken Calvert spoke to DailyMail.com at the Reagan National Defense Forum
Klinck also discussed examples of reports of China “displacing” American ships in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, further exacerbating Taiwan’s doubts about American strength.
But Trulio also said there was positive discussion about how Taiwan is moving toward increasing its military service from four months to one year.
“And I would say more broadly that socially there seems to be a greater commitment and seriousness to making sure that Taiwan has the resources not just hardware-wise, but also people who can make sure that they can defend themselves on this against potential Chinese. aggression,” he added.
Congressional leaders revealed to DailyMail.com what they believe is the greatest threat the United States currently faces during the annual Reagan National Defense Forum.
Chinese aggression toward Taiwan topped the list, but other bad actors, including Iran and Russia, are a major concern, as is the open southern border.
And the annual Reagan National Defense survey released last week found that 51 percent of Americans think China is the “greatest threat to the U.S.”