The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET）accompanied an international delegation participating in the “International Summit on Supply Chain Resilience Strategy” to visit Taiwan’s National Security Council (NSC) on June 5. The delegation held discussions with NSC Secretary-General Joseph Wu, Senior Advisor Yuh-Jye Lee, Te-chin Liu and Deputy Secretary-General Wen Lii.
The delegation visited Taiwan to attend DSET’s annual forum on June 6. Led by Chris Miller, author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, the delegation included former U.S. government officials, business leaders, and think tank experts.
Participants included David Feith, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Senior Director for Technology and National Security at the White House National Security Council (NSC); Chris McGuire, Senior Fellow for China and Emerging Technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and former Deputy Senior Director for Technology and National Security at the NSC; and Dean Ball, former Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who participated in drafting the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan, and currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI).
Representatives from the international business community included Matt Cronin, Senior National Security Advisor at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z); Jason Fiorillo, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Boston Dynamics, and Brenda Schulman, Vice President of Policy & Government Relations at Boston Dynamics; as well as Alexander Chang, Managing Director for East Asia at Anduril Industries, a leading autonomous systems company with long-standing cooperation with Taiwan, and Michael Robbins, President and CEO of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).
Think tank experts participating in the delegation included Martijn Rasser, Vice President for Technology Leadership at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP); Mark Cancian, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); Molly Campbell, Research Associate at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS); Sunny Cheung, Fellow for China Studies at The Jamestown Foundation; as well as Anton Antonenko, Co-founder and Deputy Director of Ukraine’s energy think tank DiXi Group, and Artur Savchii, Analyst at the Snake Island Institute.
DSET President Wen-Ling Tu, Vice President Hsien-Ming Lien, CEO Jeremy Chih-Cheng Chang, Director of the Energy Resilience Program Tsai-Ying Lu, and Director of the Democratic Governance Program Kai-Shen Huang also joined the meeting.
Secretary-General Wu welcomed the delegation and noted that Taiwan’s importance today extends beyond the realm of geopolitics, carrying significant implications for technology strategy. Taiwan’s pivotal role in the semiconductor industry not only contributes significantly to its domestic economic development, but also plays a critical role in global prosperity and the stability of technology supply chains. Strengthening supply chain resilience together with democratic partners is a key objective of this engagement with the delegation.
The delegation expressed concerns regarding Taiwan’s potential exposure to a “multi-crisis” scenario, including energy supply security under blockade or quarantine scenarios, rising cybersecurity threats, and vulnerabilities in critical raw material supply chains. The delegation also expressed concerns over the impact of reductions in Taiwan’s special defense budget, particularly regarding the future development of Taiwan’s unmanned systems industry. Wu stated that Taiwan has learned an important lesson from Ukraine’s experience: democratic partners must work together to strengthen deterrence capabilities in order to safeguard peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region.
Wu also expressed support for DSET 2026 Forum──National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience, noting that the forum will focus on key issues closely tied to Taiwan’s future development, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), energy, and drone supply chain.
DSET also expressed appreciation to participants from the United States and Europe for their continued attention to Taiwan’s challenges, while expressing confidence that Taiwan and like-minded partners can jointly strengthen resilience, enhance deterrence, and respond to various threats and crises.
