U.S. representatives will be permanently stationed at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense of China to expand the Taiwan-U.S. cooperation assessment project

The U.S. Department of War (Defense Department) will send official representatives to be stationed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of my country for a long time. The picture shows the exterior of the Pentagon Building of the U.S. Department of War. (Reuters)

[Reporter Huang Jingyi/Taipei Report] This newspaper recently reported that the Ministry of National Defense budget "Taiwan-U.S. Department of Defense Joint Cooperation Assessment Project" (implementation period is from 115 to 117 years) is determined to be upgraded and expanded. The U.S. Department of War (Defense Department) decided to directly dispatch expert representatives from the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy (OSW-P) and the defense think tank "The Center for Defense Analysis" (IDA) to be stationed at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters in Taiwan for a long time. In addition, the latest report of the Ministry of National Defense states that the Ministry of National Defense plans to hold 50 physical conferences and 80 video conferences this year, with experts from OSW-P and IDA participating in discussions and analyses.

The Integrated Assessment Department of the Ministry of National Defense has compiled relevant budgets since 2011, which is jointly implemented by the Taiwan and US Departments of Defense. The Office of the Under Secretary for Policy at the US Department of War is commissioned by the Center for Defense Analysis (IDA), a think tank. It convenes experts and scholars from the military and think tanks such as the Indo-Pacific Command (INDO-PACOM), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) to come to Taiwan to discuss and evaluate defense operations issues with the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff Headquarters, and the military services, and provide policy suggestions to China.

The latest written report of the Ministry of National Defense stated that the assessment results of the past three years have been included in the national military's annual Hankuang exercise and the training verification subjects of various services. Starting this year, the United States has expanded the depth and breadth of the research scope, increased the frequency of implementation, and sent one person each from the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of War and the National Defense Analysis Center, a national defense think tank, to station in Taiwan on a long-term basis.

The Ministry of National Defense pointed out that in the past, experts and scholars from the U.S. military and think tanks came to Taiwan to share the experience and professional intelligence of the U.S. military, improve the effectiveness of national defense investment plans, and use American talents to strengthen the Department of Defense’s analytical capabilities. It has achieved benefits such as providing diversified intelligence to assist in the study and judgment of the possible actions of the communist army to invade Taiwan, assisting in the revision of joint operations plans from a practical perspective, objectively assessing the needs of the national military for military preparations, promoting the integration of military and civilian resources, establishing flexible and strong command and control, adjusting unit deployment plans in combat zones, and strategic material storage and pre-hoarding.

The Ministry of National Defense pointed out that it has compiled a three-year budget of NT$471 million based on the U.S. quotation, of which NT$152.5 million of the budget for next year will be used to expand the scale of the research team, hold 50 physical meetings and 80 video conferences, and related expenses for sending one person each to the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of War and the Defense Analysis Center, a national defense think tank, to be stationed in Taiwan for a long time. Among them, 130 physical and video conferences will be held by the Office of the Under Secretary for Policy of the U.S. Department of War, together with the "Defense Analysis Center" and experts from units required by the topic, to discuss with our joint staff, service headquarters and grass-roots troops, conduct on-site surveys and map troop projections, and perform qualitative and quantitative (model simulation) evaluations.