US defense official calls for self-reliant defense manufacturing capabilities

Taiwan should urgently strengthen its domestic defense manufacturing capabilities to become more self-reliant in a crisis and give potential allies more time to respond, a visiting former US defense official said.Jedidiah Royal, former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told the Central News Agency on Tuesday that developing the nation’s indigenous defense industry is a time-sensitive priority.Many in Washington were disappointed after the opposition-controlled legislature passed a special defense budget in May that removed funding for domestic defense production originally proposed by the Cabinet, Royal said. Former US principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs Jedidiah Royal speaks in an interview with