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on the 22nd, representatives from 26 u.s. drone system and anti-drone system manufacturers arrived in taiwan and held a three-day meeting in taiwan. on the same day, u.s. media reported that the biden administration is about to provide taiwan with $570 million (about nt$18.1 billion) in military aid, which is the largest u.s. aid plan to taiwan so far and is currently waiting for biden's signature. while conspiring to build weapons and planning to throw "golden bullets", the new wave of collusion between the united states and taiwan has attracted attention from all walks of life.

why did the u.s. drone manufacturers come to taiwan? the green media quoted the british financial times as explaining that they wanted to promote cooperation between u.s. and taiwanese drone manufacturers and seek to establish a drone supply chain that does not rely on mainland china. a taiwanese industry insider revealed that the trip was arranged by the american institute in taiwan (ait), but the concerns and details of the topics were not disclosed.

the dpp authorities attach great importance to the relevant talks. before taking office in march this year, lai qingde visited the drone research and development center in chiayi, advocating that taiwan's drone development "is now in the right time, right place and right people", and hoped that taiwan would become the asian center of the "drone democratic supply chain". guo zhihui, head of taiwan's economic department, just announced the establishment of the "taiwan excellent drone overseas business opportunities alliance" on the 10th of this month. the industry goal set is to achieve a monthly production capacity of 15,000 drones by 2028, driving the overall industry output value to nt$30 billion, a 10-fold increase compared to the current level.

it seems that after the u.s. and taiwan strengthen their cooperation on drones, taiwan will receive more orders, making money and having drones available, killing two birds with one stone, which is really a good deal. however, some taiwanese media noticed that gu lixiong, the head of taiwan’s defense department, who has close ties with the u.s., said last week that “we are not suitable to use our own brand.” this statement is equivalent to announcing that even if taiwan’s drone production increases after cooperation with the united states, the taiwan military will not buy them.

does the taiwan military need to buy drones? not only does it need them, but the demand is huge. if this large order is not given to taiwanese brands, who will it go to? without a doubt, the only option is american manufacturers.

taiwanese media revealed that after the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict, the demand for uavs in the united states increased significantly, but the supply chain could not keep up, and many parts and accessories were made in china. the united states wanted to create a "non-red supply chain." the 26 manufacturers came to taiwan for so-called "cooperation", but in fact they were looking for parts suppliers and oem factories.

if we understand this clearly and combine it with gu lixiong’s statement of “not buying taiwanese brands”, we will understand that in the us-taiwan drone cooperation chain, taiwanese manufacturers are responsible for producing parts or doing oem and making small profits, while american manufacturers are responsible for selling complete machines to the taiwan military and making big money.

as for the us military aid, us$567 million is not a small amount of money, but what the taiwan military can get is not this huge sum of money, but equivalent military supplies. some us officials said that this military aid will be used for training, inventory, anti-armor weapons, air defense systems and multi-domain perception capabilities, including drones.

however, the us recently revealed that there were many damp and moldy bulletproof vests and expired ammunition in the military aid to taiwan, which were completely unusable. the pentagon's monitoring report showed that it cost both sides an additional $730,000 to repair these problems. but the report did not explain who paid for the $730,000? and after dealing with these garbage, will the us military reissue them? if not, wouldn't it mean that the us "aided in vain"?

the united states listed a high amount of military aid on paper, but in reality it used inferior products to fill the bill; and taiwan spent nearly $20 billion to buy military equipment, but the united states has been slow to ship it. comparing the two, it is impossible to figure out whether the situation in the taiwan strait is tense in the minds of americans or whether the cross-strait conflict is imminent as they say.

from a macro perspective, the us-taiwan military trade is like taiwan spending money on "watermelons" but only getting "sesame seeds", which are underweight, spoiled and moldy. this situation is very similar to a financial fraud case. the dpp authorities are showing off the "high interest" they have received, but have forgotten that they can no longer get back the huge amount of principal they invested.

some current affairs commentators on the island criticized that drones like the "switchblade" are weapons placed at the doorstep of every taiwanese citizen. this means that in the us's imagination, once a war breaks out, it will hit every household and every ordinary citizen will be involved. compared with "making money", "killing lives" is the greater disaster of the dpp authorities' blind "relying on the us to seek independence".