美国与台湾正合力应对中国的无人机生产优势，并寻求在制造对防御台湾至关重要的空中及海上飞行器方面加强合作。
为期数天的秘密会谈在台湾进行，预计于周三结束。这些会谈聚集了超过二十余家参与无人机和反无人机技术制造的美国公司，以及台方寻求美国知识与市场合作的企业。此次交易访问由美国国际贸易局组织，凸显了华盛顿与台北对全球最大的商用无人机生产国——中国地位的警惕。
军事无人机能削弱台湾在面对可能的入侵或中国大陆提出的领土要求下的防御能力，台湾计划增加军事无人机的数量以减轻这种风险。同时，台湾希望在其无人机供应链上成为更大的参与者，类似其在先进半导体生产的成功，而美国则期望通过利用台湾制造业的优势来减少对中国的无人机和组件依赖。
此行团还包括诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司等大国防装备供应商的代表，以及提供水下无人机、无人机侦测设备和其他无人飞行器（UAVs）创新技术的公司。据台湾媒体报道，美国防官员也陪同参与了这次访问。
“美国与台湾之间的工业合作对于开发各种技术供应链安全至关重要。”美国在台协会发言人指出，“这是确保美国及其盟友安全的重要一步。”
然而，台湾在设计和生产无人机方面获得更大作用的过程中可能会遭遇障碍。美国主要通过国防承包商自行生产军事无人机。若无更多政府支持，台湾小型制造商可能面临融资困难以增加产量，并需通过严格的安全检查来提供美国军事无人机零部件。
部分美国政策制定者对过度依赖台湾获取无人机部件持谨慎态度，担忧商业机密可能泄露给中国。若台湾遭遇封锁或攻击，美制无人机厂商可能会失去关键组件的供应流。
“安全和知识产权风险是现实但可管理的，只要采取适当的保护措施。”基思·辛格尔顿表示，他是华盛顿一家研究机构——国防民主基金会的高级研究员。“与台湾的合作至关重要，但需要作为更广泛战略的一部分来推进，并包括将生产转移至更安全地点。这样我们既能利用台湾的能力，又不会过度暴露于地缘政治风险。”
然而，对中国军事技术威胁的共同担忧将继续推动美台公司加强合作。
“深化防务工业合作是我们向中共发出的关键信号：切勿轻率对台发动战争。”台湾国防部副部长徐殷福在费城举行的中美防务产业大会上表示。
中国无人机的频繁现身于台湾周边上空，并已开始环绕台湾本岛飞行，据台湾国防部报道。在全球范围内尤其是美国市场中，中国大陆垄断了商用无人机销售，其中最著名的制造商DJI声称其在全球市场的份额高达70%。
尽管两岸政治关系冰冷，但DJI无人机在台湾消费者中的受欢迎程度却未受影响。
“我认为DJI无人机可类比为华为加上翅膀的大型公司。”基思·辛格尔顿最近在一个演讲中如是说。他认为，中国通过经济力量打造了一个控制全球市场的国内冠军。
中国的市场主导地位使台湾无人机公司难以发展壮大，在军事订单淡季时维持业务稳定性变得更加困难。若能接入更多来自美国的商业和国防订单，则有助于弥补这一差距。
“我们理解支持台湾自己的无人飞行器行业的重要性，并相信合作模式可以对双方都有利。”参与此次访问的AeroVironment公司副总裁雷内·卡本德说，“今年6月，美国国务院已批准AeroVironment向台出售最多720架Switchblade无人机。”
台湾国防部去年表示，未来几年计划采购高达7,700架无人机。然而，过度依赖台湾提供更多的零部件可能带来成本增加的风险。
“突然让这些制造商回到台湾生产，我们得看到是否有决心从无人机行业移除中国的零件供应商。”参与会谈的台湾Thunder Tiger公司主席陈冠州说，“我认为这一切归根结底在于政府的态度。”
在全球范围内的科技战中，中国作为全球领先的商用无人机制造商，持续扩张着其市场份额，并在很大程度上影响了全球无人机产业格局。这使得台湾和美国等国家对寻求自主生产无人机技术的需求日益迫切，以减少对外部依赖。
面对中国强大的无人机生产能力所带来的潜在威胁，美台双方合作推进了无人机研发与制造领域的深度交流，共同构建安全的供应链体系，以此回应中国的军事野心，并维护台湾地区的稳定与发展。
新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：Taiwan and U.S. Work to Counter China’s Drone Dominance
新闻日期：2024-09-25
原文摘要：
Spurred by worries about China’s strength in mass-producing drones, American and Taiwanese companies and government officials are working to join forces in making the air and sea vehicles that could be crucial to defending Taiwan. Several days of discussions in Taiwan, set to finish on Wednesday and held largely away from public view, brought more than two dozen American companies that make drones and anti-drone technologies together with Taiwanese firms looking for American knowledge and customers. The trade mission, organized by the U.S. International Trade Administration, was the latest indication of how Washington and Taipei have been jolted by China’s position as the world’s biggest maker of commercial drones. Military drones hold the potential to erode Taiwan’s defenses against possible incursions or an attack by China, which claims the island as its territory. Taiwan plans to expand its military drone numbers to blunt that risk. Taiwanese officials hope that their island can become a bigger player in the supply chain for drones for the United States and allied countries, echoing Taiwan’s success in producing advanced semiconductors. U.S. officials hope to reduce American reliance on Chinese-made drones and components by tapping Taiwan’s manufacturing strengths. Both sides are drawing on lessons from the battlefields of Ukraine and other war zones, where drones have become important for mounting attacks and monitoring enemy forces. “They have certain capabilities, and they’re coming to find out about our capabilities,” Taiwan’s minister of defense, Wellington Koo, told reporters in Taipei last week, referring to the U.S. drone delegation. “We can become part of the international supply chain.” The U.S. delegation included representatives from Northrop Grumman, a big military equipment supplier, as well as companies offering undersea drones, drone detection equipment and other innovations in unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.s. U.S. defense officials accompanied the delegation, according to Taiwanese news reports. “Industrial cooperation between the United States and Taiwan is critical to developing supply chain security for a whole range of technologies,” the press office of the American Institute in Taiwan — Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei — said in a statement. But hurdles could slow, even stymie, some of Taiwan’s ambitions for a bigger role in designing and manufacturing drones with the United States and its allies. The United States produces most of its military drones, through defense contractors. Without more government support, Taiwan’s small manufacturers may find it difficult to draw enough funding to increase production, and they must navigate stringent security checks for supplying parts for U.S. military drones, said Chen Kuan-ting, a Taiwanese lawmaker from Chiayi, an area that is building production and testing sites for airborne technology. U.S. policymakers may be leery of depending too much on Taiwan for drone parts. Some worry about industrial secrets leaking to China. If Taiwan were to come under a Chinese blockade or attack, American drone makers could lose flows of vital components. “Security and intellectual property risks are real but manageable with the right safeguards,” said Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research institute in Washington. “Cooperation with Taiwan is crucial, but it needs to be part of a broader strategy that includes shifting some production to more secure locations. This way, the U.S. can benefit from Taiwan’s capabilities without overexposing itself to geopolitical risks.” Still, the shared worries about China’s military technology are likely to keep driving U.S. and Taiwanese companies toward more collaboration. “Deepening defense industry cooperation between us can send the right message to the Chinese Communist Party: don’t rashly launch a war against Taiwan,” Hsu Yen-pu, a Taiwanese vice minister for defense, told a U.S.-Taiwan defense industry conference in Philadelphia on Monday, according to a transcript shared by the Taiwanese defense ministry. China’s military drones have become an increasingly common sight in the skies near Taiwan, and they have made flights circling Taiwan’s main island, according to Taiwan’s ministry of defense. China dominates commercial drone sales in the United States and across much of the world, led by DJI, which says it holds 70 percent of the global market. Despite Taiwan’s icy political relations with China, DJI drones are similarly popular with Taiwanese consumers. “DJI drones — I think it’s best to think about them as Huawei with wings,” Mr. Singleton said in a recent presentation, likening DJI to China’s giant telecommunications company. “Through brute-force economics, the Chinese have established a Chinese champion that controls our current market.” China’s market dominance makes it harder for Taiwanese drone companies to grow big enough to remain robust during slack times for military orders. Access to more American orders, both commercial and defense, could help overcome that. “We understand the importance of supporting Taiwan’s own U.A.V. industry, and we believe partnerships can be structured in a way that benefits both sides,” René Carbone Bardorf, the vice president for marketing and communications at AeroVironment, a company on the trade mission, said in a statement. In June, the State Department gave the green light for AeroVironment to sell up to 720 Switchblade drones to Taiwan. Taiwan’s ministry of defense said last year that it will acquire 7,700 drones in coming years. But turning to Taiwan for more and more parts could raise costs. “To all of a sudden have these manufacturers move back to producing in Taiwan, we’ll have to see if there’s the determination to remove Chinese parts suppliers from the drone industry,” said Chen Kwan-ju, the chairman of Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese firm that took part in the talks. “I think this really all comes down to the government’s attitude.”
