00:00Just recently, a report came out that the biggest purchaser of Taiwan's drones is the Czech Republic, followed by Poland.
00:05What do you think this indicates about Taiwan-EU defense ties?
00:09We've seen in January of this year, the European Parliament passed a resolution
00:17talking about drones and new systems of warfare,
00:20wanting to develop the EU's development of this type of new form of warfare to be fit to today's challenges.
00:31This European Parliament resolution that I mentioned earlier,
00:35I think that's a really big indication that Europe is wanting to move forward with deeper collaboration with Taiwan moving
00:43forward.
00:43It's clear that there's underlying threats from China and Russia that are very similar and aligned for Taiwan and Europe.
00:56So I see future collaborations making a lot of sense.
01:01Outside of drones, are there any potential areas of collaboration between Taiwan and democracies in Europe?
01:07I think something that goes under the radar a little is satellite technology.
01:13And Europe actually has a lot of capabilities in that regard.
01:20I think we have some of the largest satellite providers in the world.
01:26And I think satellites are becoming increasingly important when it comes to national security.
01:34The reason being that we've seen so much Russian and Chinese incursion on undersea cables.
01:42I think the satellite industry is probably the next large focus for Taiwan to tackle its current telecommunications and internet
01:56vulnerabilities.
01:58And I think we're going to see further development and collaboration.
02:02It's been reported that Germany and the Czech Republic both rejected President Lai Qingda's request to fly over their countries
02:08on his way to Eswatini.
02:09Do you think this is a setback for Taiwan-EU relations, especially in the defense sector?
02:14I think it's really too early to tell when it comes to what's happened with European countries,
02:22the Czech Republic and Germany, not allowing Lai to fly through their airspace.
02:28I don't think it's necessarily an indication of not wanting to collaborate with Taiwan.
02:33I think there was an emergency situation and they were only given two hours.
02:38So I don't think that is an indication of where Europe-Taiwan partnerships and development are going in the future.
02:48I also think there was a lot of risk moving forward with allowing President Lai to go through the Czech
02:56Republic and Germany.
02:59But historically speaking, we have seen that Chinese pressure has impacted Europe's ability to move forward with collaboration with Taiwan.
03:09So I think there's a lot of risk moving forward with Taiwan.
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