Taiwan voiced support this month for a U.S.-led declaration that would limit sales of unmanned aerial vehicles for military use, and Washington said thanks for the nod. Diplomatically isolated Taiwan wants to be seen as a cooperative government, explaining the foreign ministry’s statement of “welcome and support” for the declaration on Oct. 6. Otherwise Taiwan has a lot to lose.
The vehicles, better known as UAVs or drones, represent a still small but emerging industry in Taiwan as world demand skyrockets. Taiwan needs new economic wellsprings as its traditional one, high-tech consumer goods, faces a fast, nonstop headwind of changes across world markets.
The U.S. state department already calls Taiwan a “central hub for (UAV) shipments and transshipments in the Asia Pacific region.” Washington’s Joint Declaration for the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would cramp or even stop military sales of UAVs.
The declaration calls on countries to take “appropriate transparency measures to ensure the responsible export and subsequent use” of UAVs. That call could slow approval of UAV exports for purposes such as aerial photography and surveillance if developers and their clients get mired in paperwork to prove their hardware won’t spark a war.
