National Press Club

Tonight: Taiwanese defense experts to answer reporter questions at ICC event

Rachel Oswald

October 03, 2022

A group of Taiwanese defense analysts and retired senior military officers will come to the National Press Club Friday evening, Oct. 7 to answer journalists' questions about the fraught situation with China amid deepening security ties with the U.S. government.

The International Correspondents Committee will host the group of four visiting Taiwanese experts in the McClendon Room during the club's weekly Friday taco night, starting at 6 p.m. This event is free for club members but RSVPs are required as seating is limited. Send yours to Rachel Oswald at [email protected].

Confirmed speakers at the roundtable are:

  • Dr. Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang, foreign policy advisor for Taiwan's main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT)
  • Ret. Navy Adm. Yeong-Kang Chen, former vice defense minister 
  • Paul Huang, research fellow for the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation and NPC member
  • Ret. Lt. Col James Huang, defense commentator and military historian

With the worsening Cross-Strait security situation increasingly in the news, securing Taiwan's future as self-governing democracy against a feared Chinese military attack is one of the few foreign policy issues that has united Democrats and Republicans in Washington. But there are still many thorny issues to be hashed out between U.S. policymakers and with the Taiwanese government in Taipei.

So come prepared to learn about and ask questions on a wide range of geopolitical and defense issues including:

  • What happens if KMT wins the next presidential election in 2024? Will we see KMT pursue warmer relations with Beijing as was the case under previous KMT administrations?
  • How much credence does Taiwan place in President Joe Biden's repeated declarations that the United States would militarily intervene if China attacks Taiwan, particularly if the next U.S. president after Biden adopts a more restrained or isolationist foreign policy?
  • Unlike with Congress and the Pentagon, Taiwan's parliament has traditionally exercised less oversight over the Taiwanese Defense Ministry. As national security policies become ever more existential for the island democracy's future, what are the prospects of civilian oversight of the military?

As always, the tacos at taco night are free. Attendees are responsible for their own drinks.